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US 11,145,776 B2Granted
Multijunction metamorphic solar cell for space applications
AssigneeSolAero Technologies Corp.
InventorDaniel Derkacs
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multijunction solar cell assembly and its method of manufacture including first and second discrete semiconductor body subassemblies, each semiconductor body subassembly including first, second and third lattice matched subcells; a graded interlayer adjacent to the third solar subcell and functioning as a lateral conduction layer; and a fourth solar subcell adjacent to said graded interlayer being lattice mismatched with respect to the third solar subcell; wherein the average band gap of all four cells is greater than 1.44 eV.
Claims20
A method of forming a multijunction solar cell assembly including a terminal of first polarity and a terminal of second polarity, the steps comprising:
- (a) epitaxially growing an integral semiconductor body including:
- (i) a first semiconductor region including a tandem vertical stack of an epitaxial sequence of at least an upper solar subcell, a first middle solar subcell, and a bottom solar subcell, the upper solar subcell having a top contact connected to the terminal of the first polarity, and the bottom solar subcell having a top contact and a bottom contact;
- and
- (ii) a second semiconductor region and including a tandem vertical stack of an epitaxial sequence of at least an upper solar subcell, a first middle solar subcell and a bottom solar subcell, the upper subcell of the second semiconductor region having a top contact connected to the terminal of the first polarity, and the bottom solar subcell of the second semiconductor region having a bottom contact connected to the terminal of the second polarity;
- wherein the integral semiconductor body further comprises:
- a first lateral conduction layer epitaxially grown and disposed adjacent to and beneath the first middle solar subcell of the respective each of the first and second semiconductor region;
- a blocking p-n diode or insulating layer epitaxially grown and disposed adjacent to and beneath the first lateral conduction interlayer of each of the first and second respective semiconductor regions;
- and
- a second lateral conduction layer epitaxially grown and disposed to and beneath the blocking p-n diode or insulating layer of the respective each of the first and second semiconductor regions, wherein the bottom solar subcell of each respective semiconductor body is disposed adjacent to and beneath the second lateral conduction layer of the respective each of the first and second semiconductor body regions;
- (b) singulating the integral semiconductor body into a discrete first portion including the first semiconductor region, and a discrete second portion including the second semiconductor region;
- (c) arranging the first portion adjacent to and parallel to the second portion to form the multijunction solar cell assembly;
- (d) providing an electrical connection between the respective first lateral conduction interlayers of the first and second portions and the second lateral conduction interlayer of the first semiconductor portion;
- and
- (e) connecting the bottom contact of the bottom subcell of the first semiconductor portion in a series electrical circuit with a top contact of the bottom subcell of the second semiconductor portion wherein the first portion and the second portion comprises a solar cell having N junctions, and the series electrical connection from the first semiconductor portion to the bottom subcell of the second semiconductor portions forms a multijunction solar cell assembly that has N+1 junctions, where N is an integer greater than or equal to three.
11 more elements
A method of forming a multijunction solar cell including a terminal of first polarity and a terminal of second polarity, the steps of comprising:
- (a) providing an integral semiconductor body including:
- a tandem vertical stack of at least an epitaxially grown upper solar subcell, first middle solar subcell, and bottom solar subcell, the upper solar subcell having a top contact connected to the terminal of the first polarity, and the bottom solar subcell having a top contact, and a bottom contact connected to the terminal of second polarity;
- (b) epitaxially depositing a first lateral conduction interlayer disposed adjacent to and beneath the first middle solar subcell to provide an electrical contact to the bottom of the second solar subcell;
- (c) epitaxially depositing a blocking p-n diode or insulating layer disposed adjacent to and beneath the first lateral conduction interlayer;
- and
- (d) epitaxially depositing a second lateral conduction layer disposed adjacent to and beneath the blocking p-n diode or insulating layer, wherein the bottom solar subcell of is disposed adjacent to and beneath the second lateral conduction layer which form an electrical contact to the top contact of the bottom solar subcell.
3 more elements
A method of forming a multijunction solar cell assembly comprising:
- providing a first semiconductor body having a top surface and a bottom surface including a tandem vertical stack of at least an epitaxially grown upper solar subcell, first middle solar subcell, and bottom solar subcell, the upper solar subcell having a top contact connected to a terminal of the first polarity, and the bottom solar subcell having a top contact and a bottom contact;
- epitaxially depositing a first lateral conduction interlayer disposed adjacent to and beneath the first middle solar subcell thereby forming a bottom contact to the first middle solar subcell;
- epitaxially depositing a blocking p-n diode or insulating layer disposed adjacent to and beneath the first lateral conduction interlayer of each of the first and second semiconductor regions;
- epitaxially depositing a second lateral conduction layer disposed adjacent to and beneath the blocking p-n diode or insulating layer, wherein the bottom solar subcell is disposed adjacent to and beneath the second lateral conduction layer;
- etching from the top surface of the first semiconductor body to the first lateral conduction layer to make an electrical contact to the first lateral conduction interlayer and thereby form an electrical conductive path along the first lateral conduction interlayer to the bottom contact to the first middle solar subcell;
- and
- etching the top surface of the first semiconductor body to the second lateral conduction layer to make an electrical contact to the second lateral conduction interlayer and thereby form an electrical conductive path along the second lateral conduction interlayer to the top contact of the bottom solar subcell.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.