Electrode formation for heterojunction solar cells
AssigneesInternational Business Machines Corporation, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology
InventorsAbdulrahman M. Albadri, Bahman Hekmatshoartabari, Devendra K. Sadana, Katherine L. Saenger
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Abstract
A method for forming a photovoltaic device includes forming a doped layer on a crystalline substrate, the doped layer having an opposite dopant conductivity as the substrate. A non-crystalline transparent conductive electrode (TCE) layer is formed on the doped layer at a temperature less than 150 degrees Celsius. The TCE layer is flash annealed to crystallize material of the TCE layer at a temperature above about 150 degrees Celsius for less than 10 seconds.
Claims20
A method for forming a photovoltaic device, comprising:
- forming a doped layer directly on a crystalline substrate, the doped layer comprising hydrogenated amorphous Si having an opposite dopant conductivity as the substrate, the doped layer being formed by sputtering at a temperature that does not impact a crystallinity of the crystalline substrate;
- forming a non-crystalline transparent conductive electrode (TCE) layer on the doped layer;
- and
- flash annealing the TCE layer to crystallize material of the TCE layer at a temperature ranging from 150° C. to 300° C. and for a time period of less than one minute that does not impact said crystallinity of the crystalline substrate, wherein the flash annealing step is performed after the composition of the TCE layer is already formed, and crystallites formed in the TCE layer by the flash annealing reduces a resistance of an electrode to the doped layer of the photovoltaic device.
A method for forming a photovoltaic device, comprising:
- forming a first doped layer directly on a crystalline substrate, the first doped layer comprising hydrogenated amorphous Si having an opposite dopant conductivity as the substrate;
- forming a first non-crystalline transparent conductive electrode (TCE) layer on the first doped layer;
- forming a second doped layer on an opposite side of the substrate from the first doped layer, the second doped layer having a dopant conductivity the same as that of the substrate;
- forming a second TCE layer on the second doped layer;
- and
- flash annealing the first and second TCE layers to crystallize TCE material at a temperature above 150 degrees Celsius for less than 10 seconds, wherein the flash annealing step is performed after the composition of the first and second TCE layer is already formed, and crystallites formed in the first and second TCE layer by the flash annealing reduces a resistance of an electrode to the doped layer of the photovoltaic device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.