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US 2012/0058595 A1Published application
DEVELOPMENT OF AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE QUALITY ALUMINUM ANTIMONIDE (AlSb) SEMICONDUCTOR FOR SOLAR CELL APPLICATIONS
AssigneeLawrence Livermore National Security, LLC
InventorsJohn W. Sherohman, Jick Hong Yee, Arthur W. Combs, III
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Abstract
Electronic device quality Aluminum Antimonide (AlSb)-based single crystals produced by controlled atmospheric annealing are utilized in various configurations for solar cell applications. Like that of a GaAs-based solar cell devices, the AlSb-based solar cell devices as disclosed herein provides direct conversion of solar energy to electrical power.
Claims27
A method for producing a solar cell, comprising:
- providing a controlled atmospheric annealed single crystal AlSb substrate material by (i) producing a heat treated AlSb crystal by heat treating an AlSb host crystal in a partial vacuum atmosphere at a temperature conducive for air adsorbed molecules to desorb, one or more surface molecule groups to decompose and elemental Sb to evaporate from a surface of the AlSb crystal, (ii) exposing said heat treated AlSb crystal to an atmosphere comprising oxygen to form a crystalline oxide layer on the surface of the AlSb crystal;
- and (iii) removing areas of said oxide layer from said AlSb host crystal to enable coupling of conductive material contacts or coupling more solid-solution semiconductor materials to said host crystal, wherein said controlled atmospheric annealed single crystal. AlSb substrate material has a substantially uniform resistivity of less than about 10 Ω·cm and is utilized as an active host layer;
- and
- coupling one or more solid-solution semiconductor materials with said controlled atmospheric annealed single crystal AlSb active host layer, wherein each of said one or more solid-solution semiconductor materials further comprise a lattice parameter so as to produce a substantially lattice-matched configuration.
1 more element
A method for producing a solar cell, comprising:
- providing a controlled atmospheric annealed single crystal AlSb substrate material by (i) heat treating an AlSb host crystal in a non-oxidizing atmosphere at a temperature conducive for decomposition of an amorphous oxidized surface layer and evaporation of elemental Sb from a surface of the AlSb crystal to produce a heat treated AlSb crystal, (ii) forming stable oxides of Al and Sb from residual surface oxygen to form a crystalline oxide layer on the surface of said heat treated AlSb crystal, and (iii) removing areas of said oxide layer from AlSb host crystal for coupling conductive material contacts or coupling more solid-solution semiconductor materials, wherein said controlled atmospheric annealed single crystal AlSb substrate material has a substantially uniform resistivity of less than about 10 Ω·cm and is utilized as an active host layer;
- and
- coupling one or more solid-solution semiconductor materials with said controlled atmospheric annealed single crystal AlSb substrate material, wherein each of said one or more solid-solution semiconductor materials further comprise a lattice parameter so as to produce a substantially lattice-matched configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.