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US 4,360,702 AGranted
Copper oxide/N-silicon heterojunction photovoltaic device
AssigneeExxon Research & Engineering Co.
InventorsTom Feng, Amal K. Ghosh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A photovoltaic device having characteristics of a high efficiency solar cell comprising a Cu.sub.x O/n-Si heterojunction. The Cu.sub.x O layer is formed by heating a deposited copper layer in an oxygen containing ambient.
Claims12
A photovoltaic heterojunction device comprising a relatively thick substrate layer of n-type silicon having a major area surface;
- a relatively thin layer of copper deposited onto said silicon surface and subsequently oxidized to form a layer of Cu.sub.x O where x is an integer being 1 or 2, said Cu.sub.x O layer forming a heterojunction to said silicon, and means making ohmic contact to said silicon and Cu.sub.x O layers.
A solar cell device comprising:
- a n-type silicon wafer having a major area surface a layer of Cu.sub.x O deposited onto said surface forming a heterojunction to said silicon;
- means making ohmic contact to said silicon and said Cu.sub.x O whereupon radiating said solar cell with an equivalent of air mass on sunlight said solar cell has a photovoltaic short circuit current of about 9mA/cm.sup.2 and an open circuit voltage of about 0.445 volts.
A method of fabricating a photovoltaic heterojunction device, comprising the steps of:
- (a) depositing upon a substrate of n-type silicon a relatively thin layer of copper;
- and
- (b) subsequently oxidizing said copper layer to form an oxide of copper.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.