Method of making improved photovoltaic heterojunction structures

Chemistry: electrical and wave energy – Processes and products

Patent

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

204 21, 204 376, 204 381, 204 40, 204 86, 437 5, C25D 550, C25D 904, H01L 3118

Patent

active

047642610

ABSTRACT:
A three layer, photovoltaic structure having polycrystalline semiconductor layers disposed in series optically and in sequential touching contact includes a relatively wide optical bandgap energy window layer, a light-absorbing layer and a third, relatively wide bandgap energy layer that forms a minority carrier mirror with the light-absorbing layer. All three layers have different compositions so that the structure includes two heterojunctions. The light-absorbing layer and third layer are of the same conductivity type. The structure is conveniently realized using II-VI semiconductor compounds such as a cadmium sulfide or zinc sulfide window layer, a mercury cadmium telluride, cadmium telluride, zinc cadmium telluride or mercury zinc telluride light-absorbing layer and a third layer of cadmium telluride, zinc telluride, zinc cadmium telluride, mercury cadmium telluride or cadmium manganese telluride. Cadmium is present in at least two of the three layers of the novel structures. Tellurium is present in two of the three layers. Structures according to the invention may be conveniently formed by electrodeposition and may employ opaque or transparent substrates depending on the particular semiconductor materials used and their relative positions.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4388483 (1983-06-01), Basol et al.
patent: 4400244 (1983-08-01), Kroger et al.
patent: 4425194 (1984-06-01), Kroger et al.
patent: 4548681 (1985-10-01), Basol et al.
patent: 4596645 (1986-06-01), Stirn
patent: 4642140 (1987-02-01), Noufi et al.
patent: 4710589 (1987-12-01), Meyers et al.
Loferski, Theoretical & Experimental Studies of Tandem or Cascade Solar Cells: A Review, Conf. Rec. 16th IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf., pp. 648-654 (1982).
Wiedeman et al., Achievement of Higher Efficiency Amorphous Silicon-Germanium Solar Cells Using Affinity Gradients, Conf. Rec. 17th IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf., pp. 223-228 (1984).
Wolf, Designing Practical Silicon Solar Cells Approaching the "Limit Conversion Efficiency", Conf. Rec. 14th IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf., pp. 563-568 (1980).
Spitzer et al., Theoretical Limit Efficiency of Direct Gap Solar Cells, Conf. Rec. 14th IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf., pp. 585-590 (1980).
Spitzer et al., Ultra High Efficiency Thin Silicon P-N Junction Solar Cells Using Reflecting Surfaces, Conf. Rec. 14th IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf., pp. 375-380 (1980).
Arndt et al., Large Bandgap Polycrystalline Thin Film Solar Cells for Tandem Structures, Tech. Digest. Inter'l PV SEC-1, pp. 361-364 (1984).
Razykov et al., Photovoltaic Effect in Heterojunctions Made of Zinc and Cadmium Telluride, 17 Sov. Phys. Semiconductions, pp. 585-586 (1983).
Nakayama et al., "Screen Printed Thin Film CdS/CdTe Solar Cell", Jap. J. App. Physics, vol. 19, pp. 703-712 (1980).
Radojcic et al., "Preparation and Properties of Graded Band Gap CdS.sub.x Te.sub.1-x Thin Film Solar Cells, Solar Cells, vol. 4, pp. 121-126 (1981).
Meyers, "Polycrystalline CdS/CdTe/ZnTe n-i-p Solar Cell", 7th European Photovoltaic Conf., Seville, Spain, Oct. 1986.
Zweibel et al., Polycrystalline Thin-Films: FY1985 Annual Report, SERI, pp. 21-26 (Feb. 1986).
Coutts et al., eds, Current Topics in Photovoltaics (1985), pp. 10-12.

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Method of making improved photovoltaic heterojunction structures does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Method of making improved photovoltaic heterojunction structures, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of making improved photovoltaic heterojunction structures will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-599092

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.