Solar cell apparatus and method of fabricating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9691927-B2
Application number	US-201314390149-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 2, 2013
Priority date	Apr 2, 2012
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

A solar cell apparatus according to the embodiment includes a support substrate; a back electrode layer on the support layer; a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; a plurality of buffer layers on the light absorbing layer, the plurality of buffer layers having a bandgap gradually increased from a bottom thereof to a top thereof; and a window layer on the buffer layers.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A solar cell apparatus comprising;
a support substrate;
a back electrode layer on the support substrate;
a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer;
a plurality of buffer layers on the light absorbing layer, the plurality of buffer layers having a bandgap gradually increased from a bottom thereof to a top thereof; and
a window layer on the buffer layers,
wherein the plurality of buffer layers comprise a first buffer layer, a second buffer layer, and a high resistance buffer layer,
wherein the first buffer layer is formed on the light absorbing layer,
wherein the second buffer layer is formed on the first buffer layer,
wherein the high resistance buffer layer is formed on the second buffer layer,
wherein the second buffer layer is thicker in thickness than the first buffer layer,
wherein the first buffer layer has a chemical formula of ZnSe,
wherein the second buffer layer has a chemical formula of ZnS,
wherein the first buffer layer has a bandgap in a range of 1.5 eV to 2.6 eV,
wherein the second buffer layer has a bandgap in a range of 2.7 eV to 3.7 eV,
wherein the high resistance buffer layer has a higher energy bandgap than that of the second buffer layer and has a chemical formula of i-ZnO,
wherein a resistance of the window layer is higher than that of the back electrode layer, and
wherein the back electrode layer has a thickness in a range of 400 nm to 1,000 nm, the light absorbing layer has a thickness in a range 1.5 μm to 2.5 μm, the first buffer layer has a thickness in a range of 2 nm to 10 nm, the second buffer layer has a thickness in a range of 5 nm to 50 nm, the high resistance buffer layer has a thickness in a range 50 nm to 60 nm and the window layer has a thickness in a range 800 nm to 1,000 nm.

2. The solar cell apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first buffer layer includes Zn and Se at the ratio of 1:1.

3. The solar cell apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second buffer layer includes Zn and S at the ratio of 1:1.

Assignees

• Lg Innotek Co Ltd

Inventors

• Bae Do Won

Classifications

• Y02E10/541

  CuInSe2 material PV cells · CPC title

• H01L31/0749

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/065 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/072

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10F10/167 Primary

  comprising Group I-III-VI materials, e.g. CdS/CuInSe2 [CIS] heterojunction photovoltaic cells · CPC title