Manufacture of multijunction solar cell devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015122313-A1
Application number	US-201314387524-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 13, 2013
Priority date	Mar 28, 2012
Publication date	May 7, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for manufacturing a multi-junction solar cell device comprising the steps of: providing a first substrate with a lower surface and an upper surface; providing a second substrate with a lower surface and an upper surface; bonding the first substrate to the second substrate at the upper surface of the first substrate and the lower surface of the second substrate; and subsequently forming at least one first solar cell layer on the lower surface of the first substrate and at least one second solar cell layer at the upper surface of the second substrate.

First claim

1 . A method for manufacturing a multi-junction solar cell device comprising the steps of:
providing a first substrate; providing a second substrate; bonding the first substrate to the second substrate; and subsequently forming at least one first solar cell layer on the exposed surface of the first substrate and at least one second solar cell layer at the exposed surface of the second substrate.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising thinning at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate after bonding and before the formation of the solar cell layers.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first substrate is an engineered first substrate.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the first substrate comprises a zipper layer and wherein the method comprises detaching a part of the first engineered substrate at the zipper layer.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein:
the zipper layer comprises an electromagnetic absorbing layer between a seed layer and a base layer of the first engineered substrate and detachment of the first engineered substrate is performed by laser lift-off; or the zipper layer is a weakened layer, in particular, formed by H and/or He implants, and detachment of the first engineered substrate is performed by application of thermal or mechanical strain; or the zipper layer is a porous layer; or the zipper layer provides a low bonding interface.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising polishing the surfaces of the substrates to be bonded.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising forming a contact on the at least one first solar cell layer after bonding or forming a contact on the at least one second solar cell layer after bonding.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first substrate comprises InP.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second substrate comprises GaAs.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second substrate is a second engineered substrate.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the second engineered substrate is a GaAs-on-sapphire substrate.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , further comprising detaching a sapphire base of the second engineered substrate after bonding of the first substrate and the second substrate.

13 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one first solar cell layer comprises a first layer and a second layer on the first layer and/or the at least one second solar cell layer comprises a third layer and a fourth layer on the third layer.

14 . The method according claim 13 , wherein the first layer comprises or consists of GaInAs and/or the second layer comprises of GaInAsP and/or the third layer comprises GaAs and/or the fourth layer comprises GaInP.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of bonding the first and the second substrates is performed at a temperature in a range extending from about 400° C. to about 600° C.

16 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising bonding a base substrate comprising at least one of Cu, Mo, W, Si, and Al to the at least one first solar cell layer after detachment of the first substrate.

17 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising forming a cap layer on the at least one first solar cell layer.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , further comprising:
forming a mesa of the at least one second solar cell layer after forming the cap layer on the at least one first solar cell layer and forming a contact on the resulting mesa; removing the cap layer after the formation of the mesa; and bonding a base substrate to the at least one first solar cell layer after the removal of the cap layer.

19 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of bonding of the first and second substrates is performed by direct bonding or by bonding by a metallic or transparent conductor oxide bonding layer.

20 . A multi-junction solar cell device, comprising:
a seed layer comprising an InP layer; a GaAs substrate bonded to the seed layer; and at least one first solar cell layer foamed on the exposed surface of the seed layer and at least one second solar cell layer formed on the exposed surface of the substrate.

21 . The multi-junction solar cell device according to claim 20 , further comprising a second solar cell layer disposed on the exposed surface of the seed layer, a first solar cell layer disposed on the second solar cell layer, a third solar cell layer disposed on the exposed surface of the substrate, and a fourth solar cell layer disposed on the third solar cell layer, wherein the first layer comprises GaInAs and/or the second layer comprises GaInAsP and/or the third layer comprises GaAs and/or the fourth layer comprises GaInP.

22 . The multi-junction solar cell device according to claim 20 , further comprising a base substrate comprising at least one of Cu, Mo, W, Si, and Al sheet bonded to the first solar cell layer by a conductive bonding layer.

23 . The multi-junction solar cell device according to claim 20 , wherein the substrate has a thickness less than 350 micrometers.

24 . The multi-junction solar cell device according to claim 20 , wherein the seed layer has a thickness of less than 10 microns.

25 . The multi-junction solar cell device according to claim 20 , wherein the substrate and the seed layer are essentially transparent to wavelengths absorbed by the at least one first solar cell layer.

26 . The multi-junction solar cell device according to claim 20 , further comprising an electrically and optically conductive bonding layer between the seed layer and the substrate.

Assignees

• Soitec Silicon On Insulator

Inventors

• Ghyselen Bruno
• Arena Chantal
• Piccin Matteo
• Dimroth Frank
• Grave Matthias

Classifications

• H10F71/1272

  comprising at least three elements, e.g. GaAlAs or InGaAsP · CPC title

• H10F71/127

  The active layers comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs or InP · CPC title

• H10F71/1276

  comprising growth substrates not made of Group III-V materials · CPC title

• H10F10/163 Primary

  comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs/AlGaAs or InP/GaInAs photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H10F10/142

  comprising multiple PN homojunctions, e.g. tandem cells · CPC title