Photovoltaics with interferometric ribbon masks
AssigneeQUALCOMM MEMS Technologies, Inc.
InventorsManish Kothari, Kasra Khazeni
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An interferometric mask covering a reflective conductive ribbon that electrically interconnects a plurality of photovoltaic cells is disclosed. Such an interferometric mask may reduce reflections of incident light from the conductors. In various embodiments, the mask reduces reflections, so that a front and back electrode pattern appears black or similar in color to surrounding features of the device. In other embodiments, the mask may modulate reflections of light such that the electrode pattern matches a color in the visible spectrum.
Claims55
A ribbon for a photovoltaic device, comprising:
- an elongated conductor configured to electrically connect a plurality of photovoltaic cells, the conductor having a reflective surface;
- an optical resonant cavity layer disposed on the reflective surface of the conductor;
- and
- an absorber layer, wherein the absorber layer is disposed on the optical resonant cavity layer,
- wherein the optical resonant cavity and the absorber layer are configured to interferometrically reduce reflections from the conductor.
A photovoltaic device comprising:
- means for generating an electrical current from incident light on a side of said means;
- means for masking reflected light from said electrical current generating means;
- and
- means for aligning and interconnecting a plurality of electrical current cells with said electrical current generating means.
A method of interconnecting a plurality of photovoltaic cells, comprising:
- aligning a ribbon conductor along a plurality of photovoltaic cells, wherein the ribbon conductor comprises a conductive layer, an optical resonant cavity over the conductive layer, and an absorber layer over the optical resonant cavity;
- and
- attaching the ribbon conductor along the plurality of photovoltaic cells such that the ribbon conductor is operatively coupled to the photovoltaic cells and the photovoltaic cells are electrically interconnected.
A method of making a ribbon conductor for a photovoltaic device, comprising:
- providing a conductive strip;
- and
- coating the conductive strip with a plurality of layers, wherein the layers form an optical resonant cavity over the conductive strip and an optical absorber layer over the optical resonant cavity, to define an interferometric modulator mask.
A system for converting optical energy to electrical energy comprising:
- a plurality of photovoltaic cells;
- a conductor layer electrically connecting the plurality of photovoltaic cells;
- and
- a plurality of layers forming an optical interferometric modulator mask over the conductor layer, wherein the mask is configured to mask reflections from the conductor layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.