Manufacturing method and apparatus for a copper indium gallium diselenide solar cell
AssigneeRoger J. Malik
InventorRoger J. Malik
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Abstract
A method to manufacture Copper Indium Gallium di Selenide (Cu(In,Ga)Se2) thin film solar cell includes evaporating elemental Cu, In, Ga, and Se flux sources onto a heated substrate in a single vacuum system to form a non-intentionally doped Cu(In,Ga)Se2 p-type conductivity layer and exposing the p-type conductivity layer to a thermally evaporated flux of Beryllium (Be) atoms to convert a surface layer of the p-type conductivity layer to an n-type conductivity layer resulting in a buried Cu(In,Ga)Se2 p-n homojunction. Also, the source of Be atoms includes a circular rod of Be having a uniform cross-section that is resistively heated and having its temperature controlled by passing an electrical current through the rod.
Claims20
A method to manufacture a thin film solar cell comprising:
- evaporating a plurality of elemental flux sources onto a heated substrate in a single vacuum system to form a non-intentionally doped p-type conductivity layer;
- exposing said p-type conductivity layer to a thermally evaporated flux of Beryllium (Be) atoms to convert a surface layer of said p-type conductivity layer to an n-type conductivity layer resulting in a buried p-n homojunction.
A thin film solar cell comprising:
- a substrate;
- a Molybdenum contact layer deposited on said substrate;
- a non-intentionally doped p-type layer formed on said contact layer;
- a Beryllium (Be) layer doped on said p-type layer;
- an undoped Zinc Oxide (ZnO) n-type layer deposited on said Beryllium layer;
- and
- a doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO) n-type conductivity contact layer connected to said undoped Zinc Oxide layer.
A method to manufacture Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (Cu(In,Ga)Se2) thin film solar cell comprising:
- evaporating elemental Cu, In, Ga, and Se flux sources onto a heated substrate in a single vacuum system to form a non-intentionally doped Cu(In,Ga)Se2 p-type conductivity layer;
- and
- exposing said p-type conductivity layer to a thermally evaporated flux of Beryllium (Be) atoms to convert a surface layer of said p-type conductivity layer to an n-type conductivity layer resulting in a buried Cu(In,Ga)Se2 p-n homojunction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.