Solar cells having hybrid architectures including differentiated p-type and n-type regions with offset contacts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11735678-B2
Application number	US-202016832762-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2020
Priority date	Mar 29, 2019
Publication date	Aug 22, 2023
Grant date	Aug 22, 2023

Abstract

A solar cell, and methods of fabricating said solar cell, are disclosed. The solar cell can include a first emitter region over a substrate, the first emitter region having a perimeter around a portion of the substrate. A first conductive contact is electrically coupled to the first emitter region at a location outside of the perimeter of the first emitter region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solar cell, comprising:
a first emitter region over a substrate, the first emitter region having a perimeter around a portion of the substrate;
a first conductive contact electrically coupled to the first emitter region only at a location outside of the perimeter of the first emitter region through an opening in a first insulator layer, the first conductive contact having a portion that extends vertically over the first emitter region, wherein a portion of the first emitter region at the location outside of the perimeter of the first emitter region is not in direct physical contact with the substrate; and
a second insulator layer over the substrate, wherein a second portion of the first emitter region is within one or more openings in the second insulator layer and along a top surface of the second insulator layer, and wherein the second portion of the first emitter region is in contact with sidewalls of the one or more openings of the second dielectric layer and is in contact with the top surface of the second insulator layer.

2. The solar cell of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first semiconductor layer over the substrate, wherein the first emitter region is in a first portion of the first semiconductor layer, and the location outside of the perimeter of the first emitter region is on a second portion of the first semiconductor layer.

3. The solar cell of claim 2 , wherein the first portion of the first semiconductor layer is continuous with the second portion of the first semiconductor layer.

4. The solar cell of claim 2 , further comprising:
a second semiconductor layer between the second insulator layer and the substrate, the second semiconductor layer having a conductivity type opposite a conductivity type of the first semiconductor layer, and the second semiconductor layer included in a second emitter region of the solar cell.

5. The solar cell of claim 4 , wherein the second insulator layer has another opening, the solar cell further comprising:
a second conductive contact electrically coupled to the second semiconductor layer at a location beneath the other opening of the second insulator layer.

6. The solar cell of claim 2 , wherein the first semiconductor layer comprises polycrystalline silicon, and the substrate comprises monocrystalline silicon.

7. The solar cell of claim 6 , further comprising:
a dielectric layer between the first semiconductor layer and the substrate.

Assignees

• Sunpower Corp
• Maxeon Solar Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Smith David D
• Cotter Jeffrey El
• Barkhouse David Aaron Randolph
• Kim Taeseok

Classifications

• H10F77/219 Primary

  Arrangements for electrodes of back-contact photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H10F71/00

  Manufacture or treatment of devices covered by this subclass (patterning processes to connect thin photovoltaic cells in integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/33; manufacture or treatment of encapsulations or containers for integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/80; manufacture or treatment of integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one element in which radiation controls the flow of current H10F39/00) · CPC title

• H10F10/174

  comprising monocrystalline or polycrystalline materials · CPC title

• H10F71/121

  The active layers comprising only Group IV materials · CPC title

• H10F10/165

  the heterojunctions being Group IV-IV heterojunctions, e.g. Si/Ge, SiGe/Si or Si/SiC photovoltaic cells · CPC title