# US 9,040,342 B2 · Photovoltaic cell and manufacturing method thereof

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- Number: US 9,040,342 B2
- Document ID: US9040342B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/606,406
- Filed: 2012-09-07
- Published: 2014-03-13
- Granted: 2015-05-26
- Earliest claimed: 2012-09-07
- Assignees: Epistar Corporation
- Applicants: Shiuan-Leh Lin
- Inventors: Shiuan-Leh Lin
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9040342B2

## CPC

- H10F 71/1272: {comprising at least three elements, e.g. GaAlAs or InGaAsP}
- H10F 10/144: comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs,AlGaAs, or InP photovoltaic cells
- Y02E 10/544: Solar cells from Group III-V materials
- Y02P 70/50: Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product
- H10F: INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
- Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS

## Abstract

A photovoltaic cell comprises a top subcell having a first band gap; a middle subcell comprising a substrate and having a second band gap, wherein the substrate comprises a first side and a second side opposite to the first side; and a bottom subcell having a third band gap, wherein the top subcell is grown on the first side of the substrate and the bottom subcell is grown on the second side of the substrate, wherein the first band gap is larger than the second band gap and the second band gap is larger than the third band gap.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A manufacturing method of a photovoltaic cell, comprising:
providing a substrate comprising GaAs and having a first side and a second side opposite to the first side;
forming a middle subcell having a second band gap, a base layer having a first type doping, and an emitter layer having a second type doping different from the first type doping and comprising a same material as that of the base layer, wherein the substrate is provided to be the base layer of the middle subcell, and the emitter layer is directly formed on the substrate;
growing a top subcell comprising InGaP-based material and having a first band gap from the first side of the substrate; and
growing a bottom subcell comprising InGaAs-based material and having a third band gap from the second side of the substrate,
wherein the first band gap is larger than the second band gap, the second band gap is larger than the third band gap, the thickness of the middle subcell is at least 100 μm and the thickness of the top subcell or the bottom subcell is smaller than 10 μm, and the top subcell growing step is prior to the bottom subcell growing step.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the top subcell, the middle subcell and the bottom subcell comprise III-V semiconductor material.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the difference of the lattice constant between the middle subcell and the bottom subcell is larger than 0.5%.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The manufacturing method according to claim 3, further comprising forming a metamorphic buffer layer comprising III-V semiconductor material between the bottom subcell and the middle subcell.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, further comprising growing a first plurality of subcells between the top subcell and the middle subcell and/or a second plurality of subcells between the middle subcell and the bottom subcell.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the first band gap of the top subcell is between 1.5 eV and 1.9 eV.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the second band gap of the middle subcell is between 1.2 eV and 1.5 eV.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the third band gap of the bottom subcell is between 0.5 eV and 1.2 eV.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the polarity of the substrate is p-type.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, further comprising forming a top electrode on the top subcell and a bottom electrode on the bottom subcell for conducting electricity generated by the photovoltaic cell in response to an incident light.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The manufacturing method according to claim 1, further comprising growing a plurality of tunnel junctions to electrically connect the top subcell, the middle subcell and the bottom subcell.