Surface treatment for photovoltaic device
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsNing Li, Devendra K. Sadana, Davood Shahrjerdi
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Abstract
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and more particularly, to a structure and method of forming a photovoltaic cell using a surface treatment to improve device performance. Embodiments of the present invention may improve open circuit voltage, fill factor, and energy conversion efficiency by performing a surface treatment on an upper surface of an absorber layer. The surface treatment may improve device performance by permitting a more cohesive interface between the upper surface of the absorber layer and a lower surface of a passivation layer. The more cohesive interface may allow carriers to move from one layer to another with less resistance, and thus, increase device performance.
Claims20
A heterostructure with an intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cell structure comprising:
- a back surface layer on an upper surface of a substrate;
- an absorber layer on an upper surface of the back surface layer;
- a sulfur monolayer on an upper surface of the absorber layer;
- a thin solid layer on an upper surface of the absorber layer, wherein the thin solid layer comprises phosphine, hydrogen, and nitrogen trifluoride;
- a passivation layer on the upper surface of the absorber layer;
- an emitter layer on the upper surface of the passivation layer;
- a transparent electrode layer on an upper surface of the emitter layer;
- a front contact layer on an upper surface of the transparent electrode layer;
- and
- a back contact layer on a bottom surface of the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.