Dual electrically insulated solar cells
OwnerArthur G. Milnesinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Composite solar cells of improved efficiency comprise two cells of different characteristics arranged in optical series but electrically insulated from each other. Preferably, each cell is of larger crystal grain size than its substrate, which grain size is achieved by growing the cell semi-conductor on a molten intermediate rheotaxy layer of a suitable semi-conductor which solidifies at a temperature below the melting temperature of the solar cell semi-conductor. The substrate and the intermediate rheotaxy layer of the overlying cell are transparent to that fraction of sunlight which is utilized by the underlying cell. Various configurations of overlying and underlying cells are disclosed.
Claims13
A solar cell, adapted for superposition upon an underlying solar cell, comprising a substrate transparent to a first range of sunlight, an intermediate solid rheotaxy layer of a semi-conductor compound transparent to a second range of sunlight overlying said substrate, the first range being at least as great as the second range, the intermediate layer being selected from the group consisting of:
- Se, As.sub.2 Se.sub.3, As.sub.2 S.sub.3, Sb.sub.2 S.sub.3, Sb.sub.2 Se.sub.3, GeS, GeSTe, GeSe, SnSe.sub.2 and In.sub.2 S and intercompounds of those constituents, and a solar cell layer overlying said rheotaxy layer and comprising a polycrystalline semiconductor compound having a larger crystal grain size than the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.