Wafer level interconnection of inverted metamorphic multijunction solar cells
AssigneeEmcore Solar Power, Inc.
InventorTansen Varghese
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of forming a plurality of discrete, interconnected solar cells mounted on a carrier by providing a first semiconductor substrate; depositing on the first substrate a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell structure; forming a metal back contact layer over the solar cell structure; mounting a carrier on top of the metal back contact; removing the first substrate; and lithographically patterning and etching the solar cell structure to form a plurality of discrete solar cells mounted on the carrier.
Claims44
A method of forming a plurality of discrete solar cells mounted on a carrier comprising:
- providing a first semiconductor substrate;
- depositing on said first substrate a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell structure;
- forming a metal back contact layer over the solar cell structure;
- mounting said carrier on top of the metal back contact layer;
- removing the first substrate;
- and
- lithographically patterning and etching said solar cell structure to form said plurality of discrete solar cells mounted on said carrier.
A method of manufacturing an array of interconnected solar cells comprising:
- providing a first semiconductor substrate;
- depositing on said first semiconductor substrate a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell;
- depositing a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a bypass diode on said first semiconductor substrate;
- mounting a carrier on top of the sequence of layers;
- forming a plurality of discrete solar cells from said sequence of layers;
- and
- electrically interconnecting said solar cells.
A method of manufacturing an array of interconnected solar cells comprising:
- providing a first semiconductor substrate;
- depositing on said first semiconductor substrate a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell;
- mounting a carrier on top of the sequence of layers;
- forming a plurality of discrete solar cells from said sequence of layers;
- and
- electrically interconnecting said solar cells,
- wherein the interconnecting step includes depositing a conductive layer between the discrete solar cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.