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US 4,365,106 AGranted
Efficient method and apparatus for converting solar energy to electrical energy
OwnerCharles F. Pulvariinventor
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OwnerCharles F. Pulvariinventor
Estimating the term…
A very thin insulator having a dipole structure such as a dielectric material having ferroelectric, pyroelectric and or thermodielectric properties, is used as the insulator insulating an electrode of an electrode pair from a semiconductor body sandwiched between said electrode pair forming a MIS structure. Radiation and solar energy conversion systems based on establishment of an inversion layer by the thermally released bound charges of a polarizable dielectric layer or an electret and irradation of the semiconductor to separate the electron-hole pairs and subsequent collection of mobile carriers. Since there is no metalurgical junction, the generated carriers are not junction limited therefore the generated voltage could be higher than in an ordinary junction solar cell and could also be, an alternating current voltage which can be transformed or rectified.
In a method of converting incident solar energy to electrical energy comprising establishing an inversion layer in a semiconductor body by applying a bias potential to a pair of electrodes one of which is insulated from said semiconductor body, subjecting said inversion layer to one part of the incident solar energy radiation spectrum to generate the electron /e/-hole /h/ pairs, and collecting the mobile carriers, the improvement wherein the bias potential applied to said pair of electrodes is generated in situ by conversion of another portion of incident solar radiation spectrum.
A double capacitor comprising a pair of electrodes, a thin dielectric layer and a thin semiconductor body sandwiched between said pair of electrodes, said dielectric layer being capable of converting infrared portions of the radiation spectrum to a bias voltage for creating an inversion junction in said thin semiconductor body.
A solar to electrical energy converting element comprising a capacitor having a semiconductor body member and at least one pair of electrodes and a second capacitor including a dielectric having a polarizable dipole structure coupled to said semiconductor capacitor in such a way that an inversion layer is in said semiconductor body member, which when irradiated separates the photon (hv) generated /e/-/h/ pairs and collects the mobile carriers in the inversion layer.
Solar to electrical power generator comprising a semiconductor capacitor having a semiconductor body member and at least one pair of electrodes, a solar to electrical energy converter coupled to said semiconductor capacitor in such a way as to constitute a bias voltage source and create an inversion layer in said semiconductor body member such that when said semiconductor body member is irradiated it generates the /e/-/h/ pairs and collects the mobile carriers in said inversion layer and means for extracting the electrical power generated from said pair of electrodes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.