Loading patent…
AssigneesUniversidad Politecnica De Madrid, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid - Fac. Ciencias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
InventorsAntonio Luque-Lopez, Fernando Flores-Sinta, Antonio Martí-Vega, José Carlos Conesa-Cegarra, Perla Wahnon-Benarroch, José Ortega-Mateo, Cesar Tablero-Crespo, Rubén Pérez-Pérez, Lucas Cuadra-Rodríguez
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to a solar cell containing a semiconductor (1) with an intermediate band (2) that is half filled with electrons, located between two layers of ordinary n type (3) and p type (4) semiconductors. When lighted, electron-hole pairs are formed either by a photon that absorbs the necessary energy (5) or by two photons (6,7) that absorb less energy which pump an electron from the valence band to the intermediate band (8) and from the latter to the conductance band (9). An electrical current is generated that exits on the p side and returns via the n side. The n and p layers also prevent the intermediate band from contacting the outer metal connections, which would have resulted in a short-circuit. Said cell converts solar energy into electricity in a more efficient manner than conventional cells and contributes to improvement of the photovoltaic devices.
An intermediate band semiconductor photovoltaic solar cell characterized by the fact that it has a semiconductor with an energy band located in an intermediate position between its valence band and its conduction band, the energy band separated from the valence band and the conduction band by energy gaps, and located between two ordinary semiconductor layers without an intermediate position energy band, one p type and the other n type that separate the intermediate band semiconductor from electric contacts made in the solar cell to extract current.
An intermediate band semiconductor photovoltaic solar cell characterized by the fact that it has a semiconductor with an energy band located in an intermediate position between its valence band and its conduction band, the energy band separated from the valence band and the conduction band by energy gaps, and located between two ordinary semiconductor layers without an intermediate position energy band, one p type and the other n type that separate the intermediate band semiconductor from electric contacts made in the solar cell to extract current, characterized by the fact that all the ordinary semiconductor layers are thin but are deposited on a semiconductor substrate that serves as a support and the semiconductor substrate is SixGe1−x, where x is any index between 0 and 1.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.