Visually undistorted thin film electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12581750-B2
Application number	US-202418816575-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 27, 2024
Priority date	May 18, 2018
Publication date	Mar 17, 2026
Grant date	Mar 17, 2026

Abstract

A thin film semiconductor device includes a substrate, a stack of thin film material layers on the substrate, and a scribe fill material in the gap. The stack includes a scribe gap in at least one thin film material layer of the stack. The scribe fill material includes one or more coloring elements selected according to a difference between a baseline optical characteristics spectrum for the stack and an optical characteristics spectrum for thin film material remaining in the scribe gap.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A thin film semiconductor device comprising:
a substrate; a stack of thin film material layers on the substrate; and a scribe fill material located within a scribe gap, wherein:
the scribe gap is an area defined by an absence of at least one thin film material layer of the stack of thin film material layers; and
the scribe fill material includes at least one coloring element that is selected according to a difference between (i) a first optical characteristics spectrum for the stack of thin film material layers and (ii) a second optical characteristics spectrum for thin film material layers remaining beneath the scribe gap.

2 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one coloring element is selected such that a combined optical characteristics spectrum matches the first optical characteristics spectrum within a minimum perceptible difference for an industry defined standard observer, and
the combined optical characteristics spectrum is based on the second optical characteristics spectrum and the scribe fill material.

3 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one coloring element is selected such that a combined optical characteristics spectrum matches the first optical characteristics spectrum within a ΔE2000≤3, and
the combined optical characteristics spectrum is based on the second optical characteristics spectrum and the scribe fill material.

4 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein:
ratios of the at least one coloring element is selected such that the ratios of the at least one coloring element drive a combined optical characteristics spectrum to obtain the first optical characteristics spectrum, and
the combined optical characteristics spectrum is based on the second optical characteristics spectrum and the scribe fill material.

5 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one coloring element is selected such that a combined optical characteristics spectrum matches the first optical characteristics spectrum with ≤5% deviation across the visual light spectrum and ≤2% deviation for at least one wavelength within the visual light spectrum, and
the combined optical characteristics spectrum is based on the second optical characteristics spectrum and the scribe fill material.

6 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material includes an insulating material.

7 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 6 wherein the scribe fill material includes at least one of: an organic polymer, an organic-inorganic hybrid material, an inorganic polymer, or a ceramic material.

8 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material includes a conducting material.

9 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 8 wherein the scribe fill material includes at least one of: a semitransparent conductor, a transparent conducting oxide (TCO), a semiconducting organic polymer, or an opaque conductor.

10 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein a thin film material of the stack of thin film material layers is incorporated as part of the at least one coloring element.

11 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes a rigid material.

12 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes a glass pane.

13 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes a plastic material.

14 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the substrate includes an opaque material.

15 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material and the at least one coloring element are soluble in a solvent.

16 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material is deposited in the scribe gap by at least one of: aerosol jet printing, inkjet printing, screen printing, gravure printing, or spectrographic micro contract printing.

17 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the at least one coloring element includes at least one of: a pigment material or a dye material.

18 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the stack of thin film material layers includes at least one active semiconductor layer.

19 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 18 wherein the at least one active semiconductor layer includes an organic photovoltaic semiconductor absorber layer.

20 . The thin film semiconductor device of claim 1 wherein the scribe fill material includes:
a first scribe fill material embedded with a first coloring element of the at least one coloring element; and
a second scribe fill material embedded with a second coloring element of the at least one coloring element.

Assignees

• Alliance Sustainable Energy
• Solarwindow Tech Inc
• Alliance For Energy Innovation Llc

Inventors

• Hammond Scott R
• Van Hest Marinus Franciscus Antonius Maria
• Conklin John A

Classifications

• H10F19/35

  Structures for the connecting of adjacent photovoltaic cells, e.g. interconnections or insulating spacers · CPC title

• H10K71/00

  Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass · CPC title

• H10K39/10

  Organic photovoltaic [PV] modules; Arrays of single organic PV cells · CPC title

• H10K30/80

  Constructional details · CPC title

• H10W90/00

  Package configurations · CPC title