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US 2012/0037201 A1Published application
Photovoltaic device with oxide layer
AssigneeFirst Solar, Inc.
InventorsBenyamin Buller, Markus Gloeckler, Chungho Lee, Rui Shao, Yu Yang, Zhibo Zhao
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing a photovoltaic device may include concurrently transforming a transparent conductive oxide layer from a substantially amorphous state to a substantially crystalline state and forming one or more semiconductor layers.
Claims45
A method of manufacturing a photovoltaic device, the method comprising:
- forming an amorphous oxide adjacent to a substrate;
- and
- transforming the amorphous oxide into a crystalline transparent conductive oxide during or after deposition of a semiconductor layer adjacent to the amorphous oxide layer.
A method of manufacturing a photovoltaic module, the method comprising:
- fabricating a plurality of photovoltaic cells, the fabricating comprising:
- forming a barrier layer adjacent to a substrate;
- forming an amorphous oxide adjacent to the barrier layer;
- forming a buffer layer adjacent to the amorphous oxide;
- and
- transforming the amorphous oxide into a crystalline transparent conductive oxide during or after deposition of a semiconductor layer adjacent to the amorphous oxide layer;
- connecting a plurality of photovoltaic cells;
- and
- depositing a back cover adjacent to the plurality of photovoltaic cells.
6 more elements
A multilayered structure comprising:
- a substrate;
- an amorphous oxide layer adjacent to the substrate;
- and
- a semiconductor window layer adjacent to the amorphous oxide layer.
1 more element
A photovoltaic device comprising:
- a substrate;
- a crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer adjacent to the substrate, wherein the crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer comprises cadmium and tin, and wherein the crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer comprises a sheet resistance less than about 10 ohm/square and an average optical absorption of less than about 10% from the substrate;
- a semiconductor window layer adjacent to the crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer;
- a semiconductor absorber layer adjacent to the semiconductor window layer;
- and
- a back contact layer adjacent to the semiconductor absorber layer.
3 more elements
A photovoltaic module comprising:
- a substrate;
- a plurality of photovoltaic devices adjacent to the substrate, wherein at least one of the plurality of photovoltaic devices comprises
- a crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer adjacent to the substrate, wherein the crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer comprises cadmium and tin, and wherein the crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer comprises a sheet resistance less than about 10 ohm/square and an average optical absorption of less than about 10% from the substrate;
- a semiconductor window layer adjacent to the crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer;
- a semiconductor absorber layer adjacent to the semiconductor window layer;
- and
- a back contact layer adjacent to the semiconductor absorber layer;
- and
- a back cover adjacent to the back contact layer.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.