Method for improving the efficiency of a solar cell and an improved cadmium sulfide/copper sulfide photovoltaic cell
AssigneeChevron Research Company
InventorTerry M. Peterson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A CdS/Cu.sub.x S solar cell and method of fabricating the solar cell. The CdS layer of the solar cell is fabricated on a conductive substrate and forms an ohmic contact thereto. Thereafter, a layer of Cu.sub.x S is fabricated on the CdS layer and the combined structure is rinsed in an aqueous acidic rinse having a pH less than about pH3 prior to curing the device in hydrogen at an elevated temperature and fabricating a copper containing electrical contact to the Cu.sub.x S layer. The rinsing of the device prior to curing improves the performance of the finished solar cell.
Claims8
A method of fabricating a solar cell, comprising:
- (a) fabricating a layer of CdS on a conductive substrate and forming an ohmic contact thereto;
- (b) fabricating a Cu.sub.x S layer on said layer of CdS;
- (c) rinsing the device of the previous steps (a) and (b) in an aqueous acid rinse having a pH less than about pH 3;
- (d) curing the device of step (c) in H.sub.2 at an elevated temperature;
- and
- (e) fabricating an electrical contact to said copper-containing layer.
In a method of fabricating a CdS/Cu.sub.x S solar cell, the improvement which comprises:
- (a) rinsing the CdS/Cu.sub.x S layers in an aqueous rinse having an acid which is reducing with respect to Cu.sup.++ ions and a pH of less than about pH 3 prior to forming an electrical contact to the Cu.sub.x S layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.