Flexible silicon infrared emitter
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
InventorsAndre Filipe Rodrigues Augusto, Stanislau Herasimenka, Stuart Bowden
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus includes a flexible silicon (Si) substrate, such as a crystalline n-type substrate, and a heterostructure structure formed on the silicon substrate. The heterojunction structure includes a first layered structured deposited on a first side of the silicon substrate. The first layered structured includes a first amorphous intrinsic silicon layer, an amorphous n-type or p-type silicon layer, and a transparent conductive layer. The second layered structure includes a second amorphous intrinsic silicon layer, an amorphous p-type or n-type silicon layer, and a transparent conductive layer. The heterostructure structure is configured to operate as a photovoltaic cell and an infrared light emitting diode.
Claims7
A method of forming a photovoltaic cell and a light emitting diode apparatus, the method comprising:
- growing a flexible crystalline silicon substrate;
- depositing a first layered structure on a first side of the flexible crystalline silicon substrate, the first layered structure including a first passivation layer, a first amorphous silicon layer doped as one of n-type or p-type, and a first transparent conductive layer;
- treating a portion of the first passivation layer with a first hydrogen plasma treatment before depositing the first amorphous silicon layer and the first transparent conductive layer of the first layered structure on the flexible crystalline silicon substrate;
- depositing a second layered structure on a second side of the flexible crystalline silicon substrate, the second layered structure including a second passivation layer, a second amorphous silicon layer doped as one of n-type or p-type, wherein the second amorphous silicon layer is doped to be an opposite type as the first amorphous silicon layer, and a second transparent conductive layer, the first layered structure and the second layered structure together forming a heterostructure on the flexible crystalline silicon substrate;
- treating a portion of the second passivation layer with a second hydrogen plasma treatment before depositing the second amorphous silicon layer and the second transparent conductive layer of the second layered structure on the flexible crystalline silicon substrate;
- and
- applying metallization to the apparatus for conducting electricity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.