System for Diagnosis and Treatment of Photovoltaic and Other Semiconductor Devices
AssigneeThe University of Toledo
InventorsVictor G. Karpov, Diana Shvydka
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Abstract
A diagnostic and self-healing treatment system for a semiconductor device, the system provides: i) a shunt busting/blocking treatment, ii) self-healing treatment, and iii) an in-situ non-contact diagnostic determination.
Claims42
A diagnostic and self-healing treatment system for a semiconductor device, the system comprising:
- i) a shunt busting/blocking treatment system, ii) a self-healing treatment system, and iii) an in-situ contact diagnostic system.
A method for minimizing non-uniformities and/or defects in a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device having a first electrode layer, a semiconductor layer, and one or more treatment materials to at least a top surface of the semiconductor layer, the treatment material comprising positively and negatively charged particles;
- the method comprising:
- (i) shunt busting/blocking by applying a reverse bias to the semiconductor device;
- and/or
- (ii) self-healing by applying an external forward bias to the semiconductor device;
- and/or, optionally self-healing by applying external energy to the semiconductor device;
- and optionally,
- iii) conducting a non-contact diagnostic evaluation of the semiconductor device by providing a displacement current at a given frequency through the semiconductor device.
A diagnostic and self-healing treatment system for a semiconductor device (11) having a substrate layer (12), a base electrode layer (14), a semiconductor layer (16), and at least one electrochemically active treatment material (18) applied to at least a top surface (17) of the semiconductor layer (16), the system comprising:
- at least a first conductive electrode lead (13) configured to be removably connected to the base electrode layer (14);
- at least a second conductive electrode lead (15) configured to be removably connected to the electrochemically active treatment material (18);
- at least a first external power source (32) configured to be removably connected to the first conductive electrode lead (13) and the second conductive electrode lead (15);
- and
- at least one device (40) configured to conduct a non-contact diagnostic evaluation of the semiconductor device (11) based on impedance measurements;
- and optionally
- at least a second external power source (34) configured to be removably connected to the first conductive electrode lead (13) and the second conductive electrode lead (15).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.