Sputtered then evaporated back metal process for increased throughput

Abstract

A method is described that includes sputtering multiple layers on a back surface of the photovoltaic structure, the photovoltaic structure being made of at least one group III-V semiconductor material, and evaporating, over the multiple layers, one or more additional layers including a metal layer, the back metal structure being formed by the multiple layers and the additional layers. A photovoltaic device is also described that includes a back metal structure disposed over a back surface of a photovoltaic structure made of a group III-V semiconductor material, the back metal structure including one or more evaporated layers disposed over multiple sputtered layers, the one or more evaporated layers including a metal layer. By allowing evaporation along with sputtering, tool size and costs can be reduced, including minimizing a number of vacuum breaks. Moreover, good yield and reliability, such as reducing dark line defects (DLDs), can also be achieved.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.