Batteries: thermoelectric and photoelectric – Photoelectric – Panel or array
Patent
1999-11-18
2000-12-26
Diamond, Alan
Batteries: thermoelectric and photoelectric
Photoelectric
Panel or array
136252, 136255, 136256, 257438, 257440, 257459, 257463, 257461, 257431, H01L 3104, H01L 31078
Patent
active
061663204
ABSTRACT:
A solar cell that is capable of having a thickness optimum for the highest photoelectric conversion efficiency and achieves reduction of carrier recombination loss is provided. For this purpose, a solar cell (10) is formed by stacking a top cell (12) including an n.sup.+ layer, a p layer, and a p.sup.+ layer, and a bottom cell (14) including an n.sup.+ layer and a p.sup.+ layer arranged at the bottom of the p layer along the back surface. The top cell (12) has a band gap wider than that of the bottom cell (14). A top electrode (18) is formed at the n.sup.+ layer of the top cell (12), while a negative electrode (26) and a positive electrode (28) are individually connected to the n.sup.+ layer and the p.sup.+ layer of the bottom cell (14), respectively. These negative and positive electrodes (26, 28) serve as a pair of electrodes of the bottom cell (14) and the positive electrode (28) is also used as the other electrode of the top cell (12), forming a pair with the top electrode (18) which is one electrode of the top cell (12). As a result, the minority carriers generated in the top and bottom cells (12, 14) can be individually obtained from the electrodes of the respective cells where they are generated.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3990101 (1976-11-01), Ettenberg et al.
patent: 4295002 (1981-10-01), Chappell et al.
patent: 4479027 (1984-10-01), Todorof
patent: 5103851 (1992-04-01), Nishida et al.
Nagashima Tomonori
Nishikawa Takeshi
Diamond Alan
Toyota Jidosha & Kabushiki Kaisha
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