Formation of solar cells with conductive barrier layers and foil substrates

#The present invention relates to photovoltaic devices and more specifically to fabrication of absorber layers for photovoltaic devices.

#Efficient photovoltaic devices, such as solar cells, have been fabricated using absorber layers made with alloys containing elements of group IB, IIIA and VIA, e.g., alloys of copper with indium and/or gallium or aluminum and selenium and/or sulfur. One common combination of the aforementioned elements is copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) and the resulting devices are often referred to as CIGS solar cells. The CIGS absorber layer may be deposited on a substrate. It would be desirable to fabricate such an absorber layer on an aluminum foil substrate because aluminum foil is relatively inexpensive, lightweight, and flexible. Unfortunately, current techniques for depositing CIGS absorber layers are incompatible with the use of aluminum foil as a substrate.

#Typical deposition techniques include evaporation, sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, and the like. These deposition processes are typically carried out at high temperatures and for extended times. Both factors can result in damage to the substrate upon which deposition is occurring. Such damage can arise directly from changes in the substrate material upon exposure to heat, and/or from undesirable chemical reactions driven by the heat of the deposition process. Thus, very robust substrate materials are typically required for fabrication of CIGS solar cells. These limitations have excluded the use of aluminum and aluminum-foil based foils.

#The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram illustrating fabrication of an absorber layer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional schematic diagram of a portion of an array of optoelectronic devices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

#Although the following detailed description contains many specific details for the purposes of illustration, anyone of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that many variations and alterations to the following details are within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention described below are set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the claimed invention.

#Embodiments of the present invention allow fabrication of CIGS absorber layers on aluminum foil substrates. According to embodiments of the present invention, a nascent absorber layer containing elements of group IB and IIIA formed on an aluminum substrate by solution deposition may be annealed by rapid heating from an ambient temperature to a plateau temperature range of between about 200° C. and about 600° C. The temperature is maintained in the plateau range for between about 2 minutes and about 30 minutes, and subsequently reduced. Alternatively, the annealing temperature could be modulated to oscillate within a temperature range without being maintained at a particular plateau temperature.

#FIG. 1 depicts a partially fabricated photovoltaic device 10, and a rapid heating unit 20 the device generally includes an aluminum foil substrate 12, an optional base electrode 14, and a nascent absorber layer 16. The aluminum foil substrate 12 may be approximately 5 microns to one hundred or more microns thick and of any suitable width and length. The aluminum foil substrate 12 may be made of aluminum or an aluminum-based alloy. Alternatively, the aluminum foil substrate 12 may be made by metallizing a polymer foil substrate, where the polymer is selected from the group of polyesters, polyethylene naphtalates, polyetherimides, polyethersulfones, polyetheretherketones, polyimides, and/or combinations of the above. By way of example, the substrate 12 may be in the form of a long sheet of aluminum foil suitable for processing in a roll-to-roll system. The base electrode 14 is made of an electrically conducive material compatible with processing of the nascent absorber layer 16. By way of example, the base electrode 14 may be a layer of molybdenum, e.g., about 0.1 to 25 microns thick, and more preferably from about 0.1 to 5 microns thick. The base electrode layer may be deposited by sputtering or evaporation or, alternatively, by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), sol-gel coating, electroplating and the like. The layer of material such as molybdenum or other material may be applied on one and/or both sides of the aluminum foil substrate.