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US 9,425,337 B2Granted
In-cell bypass diode
AssigneeSunPower Corporation
InventorsSeung Bum Rim, Gabriel Harley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A solar cell can include a built-in bypass diode. In one embodiment, the solar cell can include an active region disposed in or above a first portion of a substrate and a bypass diode disposed in or above a second portion of the substrate. The first and second portions of the substrate can be physically separated with a groove. A metallization structure can couple the active region to the bypass diode.
Claims7
A method of fabricating a bypass diode for a solar cell, the method comprising:
- providing a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity;
- forming a first P-N junction above a first portion of the semiconductor substrate;
- forming a metallization structure on at least a portion of the first P-N junction and on at least a portion of a second P-N junction disposed in or above a second portion of the semiconductor substrate so as to couple the first P-N junction to the second P-N junction above a first surface of the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- subsequently physically isolating the first portion of the semiconductor substrate from the second portion so as to form an in-cell bypass diode from the second portion, wherein the isolating includes forming a trench in the semiconductor substrate through a surface of the semiconductor substrate opposite the first surface which includes the first junction P-N and the second P-N junction.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.