ENERGY HARVESTING DEVICE with PREFABRICATED THIN FILM ENERGY ABSORPTION SHEETS AND ROLL-TO-SHEET AND ROLL-TO-ROLL FABRICATION THEREOF

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016359067-A1
Application number	US-201514878950-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 8, 2015
Priority date	Jun 2, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An energy harvesting device includes prefabricated thin film energy absorption sheets that are each tuned to absorb electromagnetic energy of a corresponding wavelength. The energy harvesting device can include a prefabricated thin film converter sheet to convert the electromagnetic energy into electrical power. The energy harvesting device can include a prefabricated thin film battery sheet to store the electrical power. Each thin film energy absorption sheet can be fabricated using a roll-to-roll process. The energy harvesting device can be fabricated using a roll-to-sheet process from rolls of the thin film energy absorption sheets.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A roll-to-sheet method for fabricating energy harvesting devices comprising:
unrolling a plurality of prefabricated thin film sheets, including a plurality of prefabricated thin film energy absorption sheets, from a plurality of corresponding rolls of the prefabricated thin film sheets into which the prefabricated thin film sheets have been wound; laminating the thin film sheets together after unrolling; drilling a plurality of vias through the thin film sheets after lamination; filling the vias with a conductive material; and dividing the thin film sheets into the energy harvesting devices after drilling and filling the vias, wherein the thin film energy absorption sheets absorb electromagnetic energy.

2 . The roll-to-sheet method of claim 1 , further comprising:
encapsulating the energy harvesting devices into separate energy harvesting device modules.

3 . The roll-to-sheet method of claim 1 , wherein laminating the thin film sheets comprises one of:
bonding the thin film sheets together; adhesively attaching the thin film sheets together.

4 . The roll-to-sheet method of claim 1 , wherein the prefabricated thin film sheets further include one or more of:
a prefabricated thin film power converter sheet to convert the energy absorbed by the energy absorption sheets into electrical power; a prefabricated thin film battery sheet having a thin film battery device to store the electrical power generated by the power converter sheet.

5 . The roll-to-sheet method of claim 1 , wherein each energy absorption sheet comprises:
an energy absorption layer tuned to absorb the electromagnetic energy of a corresponding wavelength; and one or more electrode contact layers in contact with the energy absorption layer, and wherein the vias comprise:
a plurality of pairs of vias corresponding to the energy absorption sheets, each pair of vias extending from a backplane sheet to the electrode contact layers of a corresponding energy absorption sheet.

6 . A roll-to-roll method for fabricating a thin film energy absorption sheet comprising:
unrolling a thin film substrate from a roll; forming an energy absorption layer on the thin film substrate after unrolling, the energy absorption layer tuned to absorb electromagnetic energy of a corresponding wavelength; forming one or more electrode contact layers on the thin film substrate after unrolling, the energy absorption layer and the electrode contact layers in contact with one another; and rolling the thin film substrate with the energy absorption layer and the electrode contact layers formed thereon into a roll of the thin film energy absorption sheet.

7 . The roll-to-roll method of claim 6 , wherein forming the electrode contact layers comprises one of:
depositing a transparent contact layer as a backside electrode contact layer; forming the backside electrode contact layer using a sacrificial layer, imprint lithography, and etching.

8 . The roll-to-roll method of claim 7 , wherein forming the electrode contact layers further comprises:
interdigitating the backside electrode contact layer so that the backside electrode contact layer is an only electrode contact layer.

9 . The roll-to-roll method of claim 7 , wherein forming the electrode contact layers further comprises:
forming a topside electrode contact layer by deposition, the energy absorption layer disposed between the backside and the topside electrode contact layers.

10 . The roll-to-roll method of claim 6 , wherein forming the electrode contact layers comprises:
depositing a transparent contact layer as a topside electrode contact layer; and interdigitating the topside electrode contact layer so that the topside electrode contact layer is an only electrode contact layer.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Eickelmann Hans-Juergen
• Kellman Ruediger
• Kuehl Hartmut
• Schmidt Markus

Classifications

• Y02E10/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] energy · CPC title

• H01L31/022458

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/022466

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0465 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10F77/244

  made of transparent conductive layers, e.g. transparent conductive oxide [TCO] layers · CPC title