Method of fabricating see-through thin film solar cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11495708-B2
Application number	US-202017067766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2020
Priority date	Oct 31, 2019
Publication date	Nov 8, 2022
Grant date	Nov 8, 2022

Abstract

Provided is a method of fabricating a see-through thin film solar cell, the method including preparing a substrate including a molybdenum (Mo) layer on one surface, forming see-through patterns by selectively removing at least parts of the Mo layer, sequentially depositing a chalcogenide absorber layer, a buffer layer, and a transparent electrode layer on the substrate and the Mo layer including the see-through patterns, and forming a see-through array according to a shape of the see-through patterns by removing the chalcogenide absorber layer, the buffer layer, and the transparent electrode layer deposited on the see-through patterns, by irradiating a laser beam from under the substrate toward the transparent electrode layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a solar cell, the method comprising:
providing a transparent substrate comprising a molybdenum layer on a first surface;
forming see-through patterns by selectively removing at least parts of the Mo layer;
sequentially depositing a chalcogenide absorber layer, a buffer layer, and a transparent electrode layer on the patterned Mo layer; and
forming a see-through array according to a shape of the see-through patterned Mo layer by removing all of the chalcogenide absorber layer, the buffer layer, and the transparent electrode layer within the see-through patterned sections by radiating a laser beam onto the chalcogenide absorber layer of the see-through patterned sections and onto sections of Mo layer not removed in the step of forming see-through patterns, the irradiation occurring at a second surface of the substrate opposite to the first surface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the see-through patterns comprises selectively removing parts of the Mo layer through laser etching, and
wherein the laser etching uses a laser beam having a wavelength band transmittable through the substrate and absorbable into the Mo layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser beam for the forming of the see-through array has a wavelength band transmittable through the substrate and absorbable into the chalcogenide absorber layer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein an intensity of the laser beam used to form the see-through array is less than a threshold energy required to simultaneously pattern the Mo layer, the chalcogenide absorber layer, the buffer layer, and the transparent electrode layer.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the intensity of the laser beam used to form the see-through array is greater than a threshold energy required for simultaneously patterning the chalcogenide absorber layer, the buffer layer, and the transparent electrode layer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the see-through array comprises scanning the laser beam over a whole region of the substrate or a region around the see-through patterns.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the see-through array comprises scanning the laser beam across a whole region of the substrate, or a region including the see-through patterns in a stitch manner, within a range corresponding to the diameter of the laser beam.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the see-through array comprises patterns of holes or lines.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a diameter of the holes or a width of the lines is equal to or less than 200 micrometers and greater than 0 micrometers.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein a diameter of the holes or a width of the lines is equal to or less than 100 micrometers and greater than 0 micrometers.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the see-through patterns are formed simultaneously with P 1 scribing patterns for dividing the Mo layer into strips.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising forming P 2 scribing patterns for dividing the chalcogenide absorber layer and the buffer layer into strips offset with respect to the P 1 scribing patterns by removing at least parts of the chalcogenide absorber layer and the buffer layer after the buffer layer is deposited.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising forming P 3 scribing patterns for dividing the transparent electrode layer into strips offset with respect to the P 2 scribing patterns by removing at least parts of the transparent electrode layer after the transparent electrode layer is deposited.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the see-through array is formed in a direction perpendicular to the P 1 , P 2 , and P 3 scribing patterns.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the see-through array is connected or partially disconnected from an end to another end of a module, and is formed in a band shape having a certain width.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the buffer layer comprises cadmium sulfide (CdS), zinc oxysulfide (Zn(O,S)), tin-doped zinc oxide, titanium-doped zinc oxide, intrinsic zinc oxide (i-ZnO), magnesium-doped zinc oxide, or magnesium-aluminum-doped zinc oxide.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transparent electrode layer comprises indium-doped tin oxide (ITO), aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), indium-doped zinc oxide (IZO), gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO), boron-doped zinc oxide (BZO), silver (Ag) nanowires, graphene, carbon nanotubes, Ag, magnesium (Mg):Ag alloy, gold (Au), or an electrode material having a metal oxide/thin metal/metal oxide (OMO) structure.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing a first transparent oxide electrode layer on the Mo layer.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the first transparent oxide electrode layer comprises ITO, fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), AZO, IZO, GZO, indium-gallium-doped zinc oxide, (Al,Mg)-doped ZnOx, BZO, or a combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising depositing a second transparent oxide electrode layer between the substrate and the Mo layer.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first transparent oxide electrode layer comprises one ITO, FTO, AZO, IZO, GZO, IGZO, (Al,Mg)-doped ZnOx, BZO, or a combination thereof.

22. The method of claim 18 , wherein the first transparent oxide electrode layer comprises contact holes.

23. The method of claim 18 , wherein the first transparent oxide electrode layer has a thickness of 0.1 nanometers to 5 nanometers.

24. The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing a transparent oxide electrode layer between the substrate and the Mo layer.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the transparent oxide electrode layer comprises ITO, fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), AZO, IZO, GZO, indium-gallium-doped zinc oxide, (Al,Mg)-doped ZnOx, BZO, or a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Korea Inst Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Jeong Jeung Hyun
• Yu Hyeong Geun
• Park Jong Keuk
• Kim Won Mok

Classifications

• Y02E10/541

  CuInSe2 material PV cells · CPC title

• H01L31/1888

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/186

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0468

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/1896 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic