Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090255574 | SOLAR CELL FABRICATED BY SILICON LIQUID-PHASE DEPOSITION - One embodiment of the present invention provides a solar cell. The solar cell includes a substrate; a polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) thin-film layer which includes a p | 10-15-2009 |
20100065111 | SOLAR CELLS FABRICATED BY USING CVD EPITAXIAL SI FILMS ON METALLURGICAL-GRADE SI WAFERS - One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for fabricating a solar cell. The method includes: melting a metallurgical-grade (MG) Si feedstock, lowering a single-crystalline Si seed to touch the surface of the molten MG-Si, slowly pulling out a single-crystal Si ingot of the molten MG-Si, processing the Si ingot into single crystal Si wafers to form MG-Si substrates for subsequent epitaxial growth, leaching out residual metal impurities in the MG-Si substrate, epitaxially growing a layer of single-crystal Si thin film doped with boron on the MG-Si substrate, doping phosphor to the single-crystal Si thin film to form an emitter layer, depositing an anti-reflection layer on top of the single-crystal Si thin film, and forming the front and the back electrical contacts. | 03-18-2010 |
20100229927 | HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELL BASED ON EPITAXIAL CRYSTALLINE-SILICON THIN FILM ON METALLURGICAL SILICON SUBSTRATE DESIGN - One embodiment of the present invention provides a heterojunction solar cell. The solar cell includes a metallurgical-grade Si (MG-Si) substrate, a layer of heavily doped crystalline-Si situated above the MG-Si substrate, a layer of lightly doped crystalline-Si situated above the heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a backside ohmic-contact layer situated on the backside of the MG-Si substrate, a passivation layer situated above the heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a layer of heavily doped amorphous Si (a-Si) situated above the passivation layer, a layer of transparent-conducting-oxide (TCO) situated above the heavily doped a-Si layer, and a front ohmic-contact electrode situated above the TCO layer. | 09-16-2010 |
20100258168 | SILICON-BASED DIELECTRIC STACK PASSIVATION OF SI-EPITAXIAL THIN-FILM SOLAR CELLS - One embodiment of the present invention provides a solar cell. The solar cell includes a metallurgical-grade Si (MG-Si) substrate, a first layer of heavily doped crystalline-Si situated above the MG-Si substrate, a layer of lightly doped crystalline-Si situated above the first heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a backside ohmic-contact layer situated on the backside of the MG-Si substrate, a second layer of heavily doped crystalline-Si situated above the lightly doped crystalline-Si layer, a first layer of dielectric situated above the second heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a second layer of dielectric situated above the first dielectric layer, and front electrodes situated above the second dielectric layer. | 10-14-2010 |
20100300506 | LOW-COST HIGH-EFFICIENCY SOLAR MODULE USING EPITAXIAL SI THIN-FILM ABSORBER AND DOUBLE-SIDED HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELL WITH INTEGRATED MODULE FABRICATION - One embodiment of the present invention provides a double-sided heterojunction solar cell module. The solar cell includes a frontside glass cover, a backside glass cover situated below the frontside glass cover, and a number of solar cells situated between the frontside glass cover and the backside glass cover. Each solar cell includes a semiconductor multilayer structure situated below the frontside glass cover, including: a frontside electrode grid, a first layer of heavily doped amorphous Si (a-Si) situated below the frontside electrode, a layer of lightly doped crystalline-Si (c-Si) situated below the first layer of heavily doped a-Si, and a layer of heavily doped c-Si situated below the lightly doped c-Si layer. The solar cell also includes a second layer of heavily doped a-Si situated below the multilayer structure; and a backside electrode situated below the second layer of heavily doped a-Si. | 12-02-2010 |
20100300507 | HIGH EFFICIENCY LOW COST CRYSTALLINE-SI THIN FILM SOLAR MODULE - One embodiment of the present invention provides a double-sided heterojunction solar cell module. The solar cell includes a frontside glass cover, a backside cover situated below the frontside glass cover, and a number of solar cells situated between the frontside glass cover and the backside glass cover. Each solar cell includes a semiconductor multilayer structure situated below the frontside glass cover, including: a frontside electrode grid, a first layer of heavily doped amorphous Si (a-Si) situated below the frontside electrode, a layer of lightly doped crystalline-Si (c-Si) situated below the first layer of heavily doped a-Si, and a layer of heavily doped c-Si situated below the lightly doped c-Si layer. The solar cell also includes a second layer of heavily doped a-Si situated below the multilayer structure; and a backside electrode situated below the second layer of heavily doped a-Si. | 12-02-2010 |
20110068367 | DOUBLE-SIDED HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELL BASED ON THIN EPITAXIAL SILICON - One embodiment of the present invention provides a double-sided heterojunction solar cell. The solar cell includes a lightly doped epitaxial crystalline Si (c-Si) base layer, a front-side passivation layer situated on the front side of the lightly doped epitaxial c-Si base layer, a back-side passivation layer situated on the back side of the lightly doped epitaxial c-Si base layer, a front-side emitter situated on the surface of the front-side passivation layer, a back surface field (BSF) layer situated on the surface of the back-side passivation layer, a front-side electrode, and a back-side electrode. | 03-24-2011 |
20110108100 | ALUMINUM GRID AS BACKSIDE CONDUCTOR ON EPITAXIAL SILICON THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS - One embodiment of the present invention provides a solar cell. The solar cell includes a substrate, a first heavily doped crystalline-Si (c-Si) layer situated above the substrate, a lightly doped c-Si layer situated above the first heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a second heavily doped c-Si layer situated above the lightly doped c-Si layer, a front side electrode grid situated above the second heavily doped c-Si layer, and a backside electrode grid situated on the backside of the substrate. | 05-12-2011 |
20110272012 | SOLAR CELL WITH OXIDE TUNNELING JUNCTIONS - One embodiment of the present invention provides a tunneling junction based solar cell. The solar cell includes a base layer; a quantum-tunneling-barrier (QTB) layer situated adjacent to the base layer; an emitter; a surface field layer; a front-side electrode; and a back-side electrode. | 11-10-2011 |
20110277816 | SOLAR CELL WITH SHADE-FREE FRONT ELECTRODE - One embodiment of the present invention provides a solar cell with shade-free front electrode. The solar cell includes a photovoltaic body, a front-side ohmic contact layer situated above the photovoltaic body, a back-side ohmic contact layer situated below the photovoltaic body, a front-side electrode situated above the front-side ohmic contact layer, and a back-side electrode situated below the back-side ohmic contact layer. The front-side electrode includes a plurality of parallel metal grid lines, and the surface of at least one metal grid line is curved, thereby allowing incident light hitting the curved surface to be reflected downward and absorbed by the solar cell surface adjacent to the metal grid line. | 11-17-2011 |
20110277825 | SOLAR CELL WITH METAL GRID FABRICATED BY ELECTROPLATING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a solar cell. The solar cell includes a photovoltaic structure, a transparent-conductive-oxide (TCO) layer situated above the photovoltaic structure, and a front-side metal grid situated above the TCO layer. The TCO layer is in contact with the front surface of the photovoltaic structure. The metal grid includes at least one of: Cu and Ni. | 11-17-2011 |
20110303278 | TRANSPARENT CONDUCTING OXIDE FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - One embodiment of the present invention provides a solar cell. The solar cell includes a Si base layer, a passivation layer situated above the Si base layer, a layer of heavily doped amorphous Si (a-Si) situated above the passivation layer, a first transparent-conducting-oxide (TCO) layer situated above the heavily doped a-Si layer, a back-side electrode situated below the Si base layer, and a front-side electrode situated above the first TCO layer. The first TCO layer comprises at least one of: GaInO, GaInSnO, ZnInO, and ZnInSnO. | 12-15-2011 |
20120060911 | SOLAR CELL WITH ELECTROPLATED METAL GRID - One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for fabricating solar cells. During operation, an anti-reflection layer is deposited on top of a semiconductor structure to form a photovoltaic structure, and a front-side electrode grid comprising a metal stack is formed on top of the photovoltaic structure. The metal stack comprises a metal-adhesive layer comprising Ti or Ta, and a conducting layer comprising Cu or Ag situated above the metal-adhesive layer. | 03-15-2012 |
20120305060 | TUNNELING-JUNCTION SOLAR CELL WITH COPPER GRID FOR CONCENTRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATION - One embodiment of the present invention provides a photovoltaic module. The photovoltaic module includes an optical concentrator and a tunneling-junction solar cell. The tunneling junction solar cell includes a base layer, a quantum-tunneling-barrier (QTB) layer situated above the base layer, an emitter layer, a front-side electrode, and a back-side electrode. | 12-06-2012 |
20130112265 | HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELL BASED ON EPITAXIAL CRYSTALLINE-SILICON THIN FILM ON METALLURGICAL SILICON SUBSTRATE DESIGN - One embodiment of the present invention provides a heterojunction solar cell. The solar cell includes a metallurgical-grade Si (MG-Si) substrate, a layer of heavily doped crystalline-Si situated above the MG-Si substrate, a layer of lightly doped crystalline-Si situated above the heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a backside ohmic-contact layer situated on the backside of the MG-Si substrate, a passivation layer situated above the heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a layer of heavily doped amorphous Si (a-Si) situated above the passivation layer, a layer of transparent-conducting-oxide (TCO) situated above the heavily doped a-Si layer, and a front ohmic-contact electrode situated above the TCO layer. | 05-09-2013 |
20130157404 | DOUBLE-SIDED HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELL BASED ON THIN EPITAXIAL SILICON - One embodiment of the present invention provides a double-sided heterojunction solar cell. The solar cell includes a lightly doped epitaxial crystalline Si (c-Si) base layer, a front-side passivation layer situated on the front side of the lightly doped epitaxial c-Si base layer, a back-side passivation layer situated on the back side of the lightly doped epitaxial c-Si base layer, a front-side emitter situated on the surface of the front-side passivation layer, a back surface field (BSF) layer situated on the surface of the back-side passivation layer, a front-side electrode, and a back-side electrode. | 06-20-2013 |
20140349441 | SOLAR CELL WITH METAL GRID FABRICATED BY ELECTROPLATING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a solar cell. The solar cell includes a photovoltaic structure, a transparent-conductive-oxide (TCO) layer situated above the photovoltaic structure, and a front-side metal grid situated above the TCO layer. The TCO layer is in contact with the front surface of the photovoltaic structure. The metal grid includes at least one of: Cu and Ni. | 11-27-2014 |
20150040975 | HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELL BASED ON EPITAXIAL CRYSTALLINE-SILICON THIN FILM ON METALLURGICAL SILICON SUBSTRATE DESIGN - One embodiment of the present invention provides a heterojunction solar cell. The solar cell includes a metallurgical-grade Si (MG-Si) substrate, a layer of heavily doped crystalline-Si situated above the MG-Si substrate, a layer of lightly doped crystalline-Si situated above the heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a backside ohmic-contact layer situated on the backside of the MG-Si substrate, a passivation layer situated above the heavily doped crystalline-Si layer, a layer of heavily doped amorphous Si (a-Si) situated above the passivation layer, a layer of transparent-conducting-oxide (TCO) situated above the heavily doped a-Si layer, and a front ohmic-contact electrode situated above the TCO layer. | 02-12-2015 |