High voltage photovoltaics integrated with light emitting diode containing zinc oxide containing layer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10580925-B2
Application number	US-201916250109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2019
Priority date	Mar 24, 2017
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

An electrical device that includes a material stack present on a supporting substrate. An LED is present in a first end of the material stack having a first set of bandgap materials. A photovoltaic device is present in a second end of the material stack having a second set of bandgap materials. The first end of the material stack being a light receiving end, wherein a widest bandgap material for the first set of bandgap material is greater than a highest bandgap material for the second set of bandgap materials. A zinc oxide interface layer is present between the LED and the photovoltaic device. The zinc oxide layers or can also form a LED.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming an electrical device is comprising:
growing a LED junction on a supporting substrate;
forming a zinc oxide interface layer on the LED junction; and
forming a photovoltaic device junction on the zinc oxide interface layer, wherein the zinc oxide interface layer entirely physically separates the LED junction from the photovoltaic device junction, the zinc oxide interface layer extending an entire width of the photovoltaic device junction.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer is crystalline.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer is aluminum zinc oxide.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer includes boron (B), gallium (Ga), indium (In), yttria (Y), fluorine (F), vanadium (V), silicon (Si), scandium (Sc), germanium Ge), titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr), hafnium (Hf) and combinations thereof, as well as combinations with aluminum (Al).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the photovoltaic device junction includes an n-type gallium nitride (GaN) layer and a p-type gallium nitride (GaN) layer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer is formed by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the molecular beam epitaxial is free of hydrogen.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer is formed by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD).

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the LED device comprises a p-type gallium nitride containing layer, a quantum well composed of gallium nitride containing layers, and an n-type gallium nitride containing layer.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming contacts to the LED junction and the photovoltaic device junction, wherein semiconductor material layers in the LED junction or the photovoltaic device junction that is at a light receiving end of the electrical device have a wider band gap than the LED junction or the photovoltaic device junction that is not at the light receiving end of the electrical device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the contacts comprises:
etching the photovoltaic device junction;
etching the LED junction; and
forming metal electrodes to the LED and photovoltaic device junction.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising activation annealing of the LED junction prior to forming the photovoltaic device junction.

13. A method of forming an electrical device is comprising:
growing an LED junction on a supporting substrate, the LED junction including an n-type semiconductor layer and a p-type layer on opposing sides of a quantum well;
forming a zinc oxide interface layer on the LED junction; and
forming a photovoltaic device junction on the zinc oxide interface layer, wherein the zinc oxide interface layer entirely physically separates the LED junction from the photovoltaic device junction.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer is crystalline.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer is aluminum zinc oxide.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the photovoltaic device junction includes an n-type gallium nitride (GaN) layer and a p-type gallium nitride (GaN) layer.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer is formed by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the molecular beam epitaxial is free of hydrogen.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the zinc oxide interface layer is formed by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD).

20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising forming contacts to the LED junction and the photovoltaic device junction, wherein semiconductor material layers in the LED junction or the photovoltaic device junction that is at a light receiving end of the electrical device have a wider band gap than the LED junction or the photovoltaic device junction that is not at the light receiving end of the electrical device.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bedell Stephen W
• Li Ning
• Sadana Devendra K
• Shahidi Ghavam G

Classifications

• Y02E10/544

  Solar cells from Group III-V materials · CPC title

• H01L33/0075

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/1856

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L33/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L25/167

  Electricity · mapped topic