Multijunction metamorphic solar cells
AssigneeSolAero Technologies Corp.
InventorDaniel Derkacs
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multijunction solar cell including interconnected first and second discrete semiconductor regions disposed adjacent and parallel to each other including first top solar subcell, second (and possibly third) lattice matched middle solar subcells; a graded interlayer adjacent to the last middle solar subcell; and a bottom solar subcell adjacent to said graded interlayer being lattice mismatched with respect to the last middle solar subcell; wherein an opening is provided from the bottom side of the semiconductor body to one or more of the solar subcells so as to allow a discrete electrical connector to be made extending in free space and to electrically connect contact pads on one or more of the solar subcells.
Claims17
A multijunction solar cell comprising:
- (a) a semiconductor substrate having a top side and a bottom side;
- (b) a sequence of semiconductor layers epitaxially grown on the top side of the semiconductor substrate, the sequence of layers comprising;
- (i) a first middle solar subcell disposed over the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- (ii) an upper solar subcell disposed over the first middle solar subcell, the upper solar subcell being the top solar subcell with respect to incoming illumination,
- (c) a bottom solar subcell formed in the semiconductor substrate;
- wherein the semiconductor substrate and the sequence of semiconductor layers comprises a first and a second adjacent and parallel semiconductor regions, each semiconductor region further comprising the upper solar subcell;
- the first middle solar subcell;
- and
- (d) a first opening in the semiconductor substrate extending from a bottom side of the semiconductor substrate to an electrical contact on the first middle solar subcell;
- (e) a second opening in the semiconductor substrate overlapping the first opening and being wider than the first opening and extending from the bottom side of the substrate to an electrical contact on the bottom solar subcell;
- and
- (f) a discrete electrical connector having a first end bonded to the electrical contact on the first middle solar subcell and a second end bonded to the electrical contact on the bottom solar subcell and extending in free space through the first and second openings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.