Optical control of multi-stage thin film solar cell production

Title: Optical control of multi-stage thin film solar cell production

Embodiments include methods of depositing and controlling the deposition of a film in multiple stages. The disclosed deposition and deposition control methods include the optical monitoring of a deposition matrix to determine a time when at least one transition point occurs. In certain embodiments, the transition point or transition points are a stoichiometry point. Methods may also include controlling the length of time in which material is deposited during a deposition stage or controlling the amount of the first, second or subsequent materials deposited during any deposition stage in response to a determination of the time when a selected transition point occurs.

Inventors:: Li, Jian; Levi, Dean H.; Contreras, Miguel A.; Scharf, John

Issue Date:: 2016-05-17

OSTI Identifier:: 1253341

Assignee:: ALLIANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, LLC (Golden, CO) NREL

Patent Number(s):: 9,343,378

Application Number:: 14/204,795

Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Relation:: Patent File Date: 2014 Mar 11

Research Org:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org:: USDOE

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Full Text
View Full Text

Other works cited in this record:

Method of fabricating high-efficiency Cu(In,Ga)(SeS)₂ thin films for solar cells
patent, August 1995

Noufi, Rommel; Gabor, Andrew; Tuttle, John
US Patent Document 5,441,897
URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN/5441897

Similar records in DOepatents and OSTI.GOV collections:

Thin film solar cell including a spatially modulated intrinsic layer

Patent Guha, Subhendu ; Yang, Chi-Chung ; Ovshinsky, Stanford R.

One or more thin film solar cells in which the intrinsic layer of substantially amorphous semiconductor alloy material thereof includes at least a first band gap portion and a narrower band gap portion. The band gap of the intrinsic layer is spatially graded through a portion of the bulk thickness, said graded portion including a region removed from the intrinsic layer-dopant layer interfaces. The band gap of the intrinsic layer is always less than the band gap of the doped layers. The gradation of the intrinsic layer is effected such that the open circuit voltage and/or the fill factor ofmore »« less
Full Text Available March 1989
High efficiency low cost thin film silicon solar cell design and method for making

Patent Sopori, Bhushan L.

A semiconductor device having a substrate, a conductive intermediate layer deposited onto said substrate, wherein the intermediate layer serves as a back electrode, an optical reflector, and an interface for impurity gettering, and a semiconductor layer deposited onto said intermediate layer, wherein the semiconductor layer has a grain size at least as large as the layer thickness, and preferably about ten times the layer thickness. The device is formed by depositing a metal layer on a substrate, depositing a semiconductive material on the metal-coated substrate to produce a composite structure, and then optically processing the composite structure by illuminating itmore »« less
Full Text Available January 1999
High efficiency, low cost, thin film silicon solar cell design and method for making

Patent Sopori, Bhushan L.

A semiconductor device having a substrate, a conductive intermediate layer deposited onto said substrate, wherein the intermediate layer serves as a back electrode, an optical reflector, and an interface for impurity gettering, and a semiconductor layer deposited onto said intermediate layer, wherein the semiconductor layer has a grain size at least as large as the layer thickness, and preferably about ten times the layer thickness. The device is formed by depositing a metal layer on a substrate, depositing a semiconductive material on the metal-coated substrate to produce a composite structure, and then optically processing the composite structure by illuminating itmore »« less
Full Text Available January 2001
Low resistance thin film organic solar cell electrodes

Patent Forrest, Stephen ; Xue, Jiangeng

A method which lower the series resistance of photosensitive devices includes providing a transparent film of a first electrically conductive material arranged on a transparent substrate; depositing and patterning a mask over the first electrically conductive material, such that openings in the mask have sloping sides which narrow approaching the substrate; depositing a second electrically conductive material directly onto the first electrically conductive material exposed in the openings of the mask, at least partially filling the openings; stripping the mask, leaving behind reentrant structures of the second electrically conductive material which were formed by the deposits in the openings ofmore »« less
Full Text Available January 2008
Thin-film solar cell fabricated on a flexible metallic substrate

Patent Tuttle, John R. ; Noufi, Rommel ; Hasoon, Falah S.

A thin-film solar cell (10) is provided. The thin-film solar cell (10) comprises a flexible metallic substrate (12) having a first surface and a second surface. A back metal contact layer (16) is deposited on the first surface of the flexible metallic substrate (12). A semiconductor absorber layer (14) is deposited on the back metal contact. A photoactive film deposited on the semiconductor absorber layer (14) forms a heterojunction structure and a grid contact (24) deposited on the heterjunction structure. The flexible metal substrate (12) can be constructed of either aluminium or stainless steel. Furthermore, a method of constructing amore »« less
Full Text Available May 2006