Method of manufacturing a photovoltaic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9406829-B2
Application number	US-201414317479-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2014
Priority date	Jun 28, 2013
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

A method to improve operation of a CdTe-based photovoltaic device is disclosed, the method comprising the steps of depositing a semiconductor absorber layer adjacent to a substrate, depositing a semiconductor buffer layer adjacent to the semiconductor layer, and annealing at least one of the semiconductor absorber layer and the semiconductor buffer layer with one of a laser and a flash lamp.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a photovoltaic device comprising the steps of:
providing a multilayer construct, the multilayer construct comprising a substrate having a thin-conductive oxide layer deposited thereon, a semiconductor absorber layer, and at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer; and
annealing the semiconductor absorber layer or the semiconductor contact buffer layer with a laser or a flash lamp to form an alloy.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the annealing forms an alloy in the semiconductor absorber layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the annealing forms an alloy between the semiconductor absorber layer and the semiconductor contact buffer layer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the annealing is performed with a UV flash lamp or a pulse UV laser.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the annealing is performed in an inert gas environment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor front contact buffer layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor absorber layer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor back contact buffer layer and the semiconductor absorber layer is disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor back contact buffer layer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor front contact buffer layer and a semiconductor back contact buffer layer, the semiconductor front contact buffer layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor absorber layer, and the semiconductor absorber layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor back contact buffer layer.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the semiconductor absorber layer comprises CdTe, the semiconductor front contact buffer layer comprises CdS, and the semiconductor back contact buffer layer comprises CdS.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor absorber layer comprises CdTe and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises CdS and the annealing forms an alloy layer of CdS x Te 1-x between the semiconductor absorber layer and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor front contact buffer layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor absorber layer, and the annealing forms the alloy layer of CdS x Te 1-x in place of substantially all of the semiconductor front contact buffer layer.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor absorber layer comprises CdTe and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises ZnTe and the annealing forms an alloy layer of Cd 1-x Zn x Te between the semiconductor absorber layer and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor back contact buffer layer, the semiconductor absorber layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor back contact buffer layer, and the annealing forms the alloy layer of Cd 1-x Zn x Te in place of substantially all of the semiconductor back contact buffer layer.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor absorber layer comprises CdTe and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises MnTe and the annealing forms an alloy layer of Cd 1-x Mn x Te between the semiconductor absorber layer and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor back contact buffer layer, the semiconductor absorber layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor back contact buffer layer, and the annealing forms the alloy layer of Cd 1-x Mn x Te in place of substantially all of the semiconductor back contact buffer layer.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor absorber layer comprises CdTe and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises CdSe and the annealing forms an alloy layer of CdSe x Te 1-x between the semiconductor absorber layer and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor back contact buffer layer, the semiconductor absorber layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor back contact buffer layer, and the annealing forms the alloy layer of CdSe x Te 1-x in place of substantially all of the semiconductor back contact buffer layer.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor absorber layer comprises CdTe and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises MgTe and the annealing forms an alloy layer of Cd 1-x Mg x Te between the semiconductor absorber layer and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor back contact buffer layer, the semiconductor absorber layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor back contact buffer layer, and the annealing forms the alloy layer of Cd 1-x Mg x Te in place of substantially all of the semiconductor back contact buffer layer.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor absorber layer comprises CdTe and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises HgTe and the annealing forms an alloy layer of Cd 1-x Hg x Te between the semiconductor absorber layer and the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the at least one semiconductor contact buffer layer comprises a semiconductor back contact buffer layer, the semiconductor absorber layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor back contact buffer layer, and the annealing forms the alloy layer of Cd 1-x Hg x Te in place of substantially all of the semiconductor back contact buffer layer.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor absorber layer comprises CdTe and CdS.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thin-conductive oxide layer comprises SnO2:F.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the annealing includes introducing the laser or the flash lamp to the semiconductor absorber layer or the semiconductor contact buffer layer from a side opposite the substrate.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the annealing includes controlling a depth of penetration of the energy of the laser or the flash lamp so that the energy does not contact other layers of the photovoltaic device.

26. A method of manufacturing a photovoltaic device comprising the steps of:
providing a multilayer construct, the multilayer construct comprising a substrate having a thin-conductive oxide layer deposited thereon, a semiconductor absorber layer including CdTe, and a semiconductor front contact buffer layer including ZnTe, MnTe, MgTe, HgTe, or CdSe, the semiconductor front contact buffer layer disposed between the substrate and the semiconductor absorber layer; and
annealing the semiconductor absorber layer or the semiconductor contact buffer layer with a laser or a flash lamp to form an alloy including Cd 1-x Zn x Te, Cd 1-x Mn x Te, Cd 1-x Mg x Te, Cd 1-x Hg x Te, or CdSe x Te 1-x .

Assignees

• First Solar Inc

Inventors

• Addepalli Pratima
• Buller Benyamin
• Gloeckler Markus
• Gupta Akhlesh
• Hwang David
• Los Andrei
• Powell Rick
• Shao Rui
• Xiong Gang
• Yu Ming Lun
• Yu San
• Zhao Zhibo

Classifications

• H10F71/128

  Annealing · CPC title

• H10F71/125

  The active layers comprising only Group II-VI materials, e.g. CdS, ZnS or CdTe · CPC title

• H10F10/162 Primary

  comprising only Group II-VI materials, e.g. CdS/CdTe photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H01L31/1864

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/073 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic