skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Transparent contacts for stacked compound photovoltaic cells

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1333727

A microsystems-enabled multi-junction photovoltaic (MEM-PV) cell includes a first photovoltaic cell having a first junction, the first photovoltaic cell including a first semiconductor material employed to form the first junction, the first semiconductor material having a first bandgap. The MEM-PV cell also includes a second photovoltaic cell comprising a second junction. The second photovoltaic cell comprises a second semiconductor material employed to form the second junction, the second semiconductor material having a second bandgap that is less than the first bandgap, the second photovoltaic cell further comprising a first contact layer disposed between the first junction of the first photovoltaic cell and the second junction of the second photovoltaic cell, the first contact layer composed of a third semiconductor material having a third bandgap, the third bandgap being greater than or equal to the first bandgap.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
Assignee:
Sandia Corporation (Albuquerque, NM)
Patent Number(s):
9,508,881
Application Number:
13/649,238
OSTI ID:
1333727
Resource Relation:
Patent File Date: 2012 Oct 11
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (18)

Gallium arsenide-germanium heteroface junction device patent May 1983
Solar cell interconnection and packaging using tape carrier patent June 1991
Multijunction photovoltaic device and method of manufacture patent April 1995
High efficiency multi-junction solar cells patent December 1998
Space concentrator for advanced solar cells patent May 2000
Semiconductor substrate, solar cell using same, and fabrication methods thereof patent April 2002
Multi-layer highly reflective ohmic contacts for semiconductor devices patent January 2006
Method and apparatus of multiplejunction solar cell structure with high band gap heterojunction middle cell patent July 2006
Method for producing multijunction solar cell patent November 2009
Method of forming a multijunction solar cell structure with a GaAs/AIGaAs tunnel diode patent May 2010
Multijunction solar cell having a lattice mismatched GrIII-GrV-X layer and a composition-graded buffer layer patent October 2010
Apparatus and method to characterize multijunction photovoltaic solar cells patent May 2012
High efficiency, monolithic multijunction solar cells containing lattice-mismatched materials and methods of forming same patent-application August 2004
Photoelectric Conversion Device patent-application August 2005
Method and apparatus of multiplejunction solar cell structure with high band gap heterojunction middle cell patent-application September 2005
Low bandgap, monolithic, multi-bandgap, optoelectronic devices patent-application July 2006
Multi-Junction Solar Cell Devices patent-application January 2011
Multi-junction III–V solar cells: current status and future potential journal July 2005