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US 9,437,760 B2Granted
Method of reducing semiconductor window layer loss during thin film photovoltaic device fabrication, and resulting device structure
AssigneeFirst Solar, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Damjanovic, Rick C. Powell, Jigish Trivedi, Zhibo Zhao
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Abstract
A completed photovoltaic device and method forming it are described in which fluxing of a window layer into an absorber layer is mitigated by the presence of a sacrificial fluxing layer.
Claims26
A method of manufacturing a photovoltaic device, the method comprising:
- forming a first electrode;
- forming a window layer containing sulfur in electrical association with the first electrode;
- forming a first absorber layer adjacent the window layer;
- forming a sacrificial layer containing sulfur adjacent the first absorber layer;
- forming a second absorber layer adjacent the sacrificial layer;
- wherein the sacrificial layer is formed in contact with the first absorber layer and the second absorber layer;
- heating the device layers such that at least a portion of the sulfur from the sacrificial layer fluxes into the first and second absorber layers;
- and,
- forming a second electrode in electrical association with the second absorber layer.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.