Fabrication of organic solar array for applications in microelectromechanical systems and others

Abstract

A method of fabricating organic solar arrays for application in DC power supplies for electrostatic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices. A solar array with 20 miniature cells (as small as 1 mm2) interconnected in series is fabricated and characterized. Photolithography is used to isolate individual cells and output contacts of the array, whereas the thermal-vacuum deposition is employed to make the series connections of the array. With 1 mm2 for single cell and a total device area of 2.2 cm2, the organic solar array based on bulk heterojunction structure of π-conjugated polymers and C60 derivative (6,6)-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester produces an open-circuit voltage of 7.8 V and a short-circuit current of 55 μA under simulated air mass (AM) 1.5 illumination with an intensity of 132 mW/cm2. The present method can be used in the fabrication of microarrays as small as 0.01 mm2. This technology can be used to fabricate a power source that is light-weight and environmentally friendly for small electronic devices, with flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.