Stretchable substrate, stretchable photovoltaic apparatus, and stretchable device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9450125-B2
Application number	US-201313852528-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2013
Priority date	Nov 29, 2012
Publication date	Sep 20, 2016
Grant date	Sep 20, 2016

Abstract

A stretchable photovoltaic apparatus according to the present invention includes: a stretchable substrate including islands protruded from a base such that the islands are separated by a trench, and a notch formed in an edge of each of the islands; a photovoltaic cell mounted on the stretchable substrate; and an interconnector of which at least a portion is positioned inside the notch, the interconnector electrically connecting the neighboring photovoltaic cells in one pair. According to the present invention, a semiconductor device may be configured in the form of a stretchable array. Therefore, the present invention is expected to be applied to various industrial fields such as a solar cell field, a display field, a semiconductor device field, a medical field, a clothing field, a measurement field, and a filming field.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A stretchable photovoltaic apparatus comprising:
a stretchable substrate including islands protruded from a base such that the islands are separated by a trench, and a notch formed in an edge of each of the islands, wherein the trench isolates neighboring islands;
a photovoltaic cell mounted on the stretchable substrate; and
an interconnector of which at least a portion is positioned inside a pair of adjacent notches facing each other, the interconnector electrically connecting neighboring photovoltaic cells in one pair;
wherein the interconnector spans the trench to bridge the neighboring photovoltaic cells.

2. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the island has at least any one shape of a triangle, a rectangle, a polygon, a circle, and an ellipse.

3. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the notch has at least any one shape of a triangle, a rectangle, a polygon, a circle, and an ellipse.

4. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the notch is provided to a center of the edge of each of the islands.

5. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the interconnector is placed inside the notch when the stretchable substrate is deformed and thus the islands in one pair contact each other.

6. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of a plurality of notches is provided to each of edges in one pair facing each other when the island has a rectangular shape.

7. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of a plurality of notches is provided to each of edges of the each of the islands.

8. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the photovoltaic cell is a dual junction GaInP/GaAs, a single junction GaAs, a triple junction GaInP/GaAs/Ge, an organic solar cell, a thin film solar cell, or a silicon solar cell.

9. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the notch extends from an upper side of the island to an upper side of the base.

10. The stretchable photovoltaic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the photovoltaic cell has a notch having a similar shape to the notch.

11. A stretchable substrate comprising:
a base;
islands protruded from the base and spaced apart by a trench from each other; a notch provided to an edge of each of each of the islands; and
an interconnector of which at least a portion is positioned inside a pair of adjacent notches facing each other, the interconnector electrically connecting neighboring photovoltaic cells;
wherein the interconnector spans the trench to bridge the neighboring photovoltaic cells.

12. The stretchable substrate of claim 11 , wherein the island or the notch has at least any one shape of a triangle, a rectangle, a polygon, a circle, and an ellipse.

13. The stretchable substrate of claim 11 , wherein when the island is a polygon, the notch is provided to each of the edges of the islands or the edges in one pair facing each other.

14. The stretchable substrate of claim 11 , wherein the notch extends downward from an upper side of the island to the base.

Assignees

• Gwangju Inst Science & Tech

Inventors

• Lee Jongho

Classifications

• H10F19/902

  for series or parallel connection of photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H10F19/80

  Encapsulations or containers for integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H10F19/20 Primary

  comprising photovoltaic cells in arrays in or on a single semiconductor substrate, the photovoltaic cells having planar junctions (having multiple thin-film photovoltaic cells deposited on the same substrate H10F19/31) · CPC title

• H10F10/142

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

• H10F19/00 Primary

  Integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one photovoltaic cell covered by group H10F10/00, e.g. photovoltaic modules · CPC title