Solar Cell With Selectively Doped Conductive Oxide Layer and Method of Making the Same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018190844-A1
Application number	US-201815905123-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 26, 2018
Priority date	Mar 12, 2013
Publication date	Jul 5, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of making a coated substrate having a transparent conductive oxide layer with a dopant selectively distributed in the layer includes selectively supplying an oxide precursor material and a dopant precursor material to each coating cell of a multi-cell chemical vapor deposition coater, wherein the amount of dopant material supplied is selected to vary the dopant content versus coating depth in the resultant coating.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method of making a coated substrate having a coating layer with a dopant selectively distributed in the coating layer, comprising the steps of:
supplying a coating precursor material to coating cells of a multi-cell chemical vapor deposition coater; supplying a dopant precursor material to coating cells of a multi-cell chemical vapor deposition coater; controlling the supply of at least one of the coating precursor material and the dopant precursor material to define a coating composition having a selected ratio of the dopant precursor material to the coating precursor material at the coating cells; and depositing the coating composition onto a substrate to form a doped coating layer, wherein the ratio of the dopant precursor material to the coating precursor material is selected to define a desired dopant content versus coating depth profile of a resultant doped coating.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the coating cells are individually connected to a coating precursor supply and a dopant precursor supply.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer is a transparent conductive oxide layer.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating precursor material comprises a precursor material for an oxide coating comprising one or more of Zn, Fe, Mn, Al, Ce, Sn, Sb, Hf, Zr, Ni, Zn, Bi, Ti, Co, Cr, Si, In, or an alloy of two or more of these materials.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dopant precursor material comprises at least one dopant selected from F, In, Al, P, and Sb.

6 . The method of claim 1 , including controlling the supply of at least one of the coating precursor material and the dopant precursor material such that the dopant is non-uniformly distributed within the tin oxide layer.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating precursor material comprises a tin oxide precursor to form a tin oxide layer and the dopant precursor material comprises a fluorine precursor.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein a fluorine content is higher at a top of the tin oxide layer than near a bottom of the tin oxide layer.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein a fluorine content is lower at a top of the tin oxide layer than near a bottom of the tin oxide layer.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein a fluorine content is higher in a middle region of the tin oxide layer than at a top or bottom of the tin oxide layer.

11 . A solar cell comprising
a first substrate having a first surface and a second surface; a first conductive layer over at least a portion of the second surface, wherein the first conductive layer comprises a first portion having a dopant, a second portion over the first portion having less dopant than the first portion, and a third portion over the second portion have more dopant than the second portion; a semiconductor layer over the first conductive layer; and a second conductive layer over at least a portion of the semiconductor layer.

12 . The solar cell of claim 11 wherein the first conductive layer further comprise a fourth portion over the third portion having less dopant than the third portion and a fifth portion over the fourth portion having more dopant than the fourth portion.

13 . The solar cell of claim 11 , further comprising an undercoating layer between the second surface and the first conductive layer.

14 . The solar cell of claim 11 , further comprising a second substrate over the second conductive layer.

15 . The solar cell of claim 11 , wherein the first conductive layer comprises an oxide selected from the group consisting of Zn, Fe, Mn, Al, Ce, Sn, Sb, Hf, Zr, Ni, Zn, Bi, Ti, Co, Cr, Si, In, and an alloy of two or more of these materials.

16 . The solar cell of claim 11 , wherein the dopant material is selected from the group consisting of F, In, Al, P, and Sb.

17 . The solar cell of claim 11 , wherein the dopant material comprises fluorine.

18 . The solar cell of claim 11 , wherein the semiconductor layer is selected from monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium selenide/sulfide.

19 . A chemical vapor deposition system, comprising: at least one coater having a plurality of coating cells, wherein the coating cells are individually connected to respective coating supply sources comprising at least one oxide precursor material and at least one dopant material.

Assignees

• Vitro Sab De Cv

Inventors

• Mccamy James W
• Tausch Peter
• Nelis Gary J
• Ganjoo Ashtosh

Classifications

• C23C16/45595

  Atmospheric CVD gas inlets with no enclosed reaction chamber · CPC title

• C23C16/545

  for coating elongated substrates · CPC title

• C23C16/407

  of zinc, germanium, cadmium, indium, tin, thallium or bismuth · CPC title

• C03C17/3411

  with at least two coatings of inorganic materials (C03C17/36, C03C17/42 take precedence) · CPC title

• C03C17/3636

  one layer at least containing silicon, hydrogenated silicon or a silicide · CPC title