Flisom Ag

Empa

Flison Ag

Adrian Chirila

Patrick Reinhard

Ayodhya Nath Tiwari

Fabian Pianezzi

Stephan Buecheler

David Bremaud

Patrick Bloesch

Shiro Nishiwaki

A method for fabricating thin-film optoelectronic devices (), the method comprising: providing a alkali-nondiffusing substrate (), forming a back-contact layer (); forming at least one absorber layer () made of an ABC chalcogenide material, adding least one and advantageously at least two different alkali metals, and forming at least one front-contact layer () wherein one of said alkali metals comprise Rb and/or Cs and where, following forming said front-contact layer, in the interval of layers () from back-contact layer (), exclusive, to front-contact layer (), inclusive, the comprised amounts resulting from adding alkali metals are, for Rb and/or Cs, in the range of 500 to 10000 ppm and, for the other alkali metals, typically Na or K, in the range of 5 to 2000 ppm and at most &#xbd; and at least 1/2000 of the comprised amount of Rb and/or Cs. The method () is advantageous for more environmentally-friendly production of photovoltaic devices on flexible substrates with high photovoltaic conversion efficiency and faster production rate.

Fabricating thin-film optoelectronic devices with added rubidium and/or cesium

A method () for fabricating patterns on the surface of a layer of a device (), the method comprising: providing at least one layer (); adding at least one alkali metal () comprising Cs and/or Rb; controlling the temperature () of the at least one layer, thereby forming a plurality of self-assembled, regularly spaced, parallel lines of alkali compound embossings () at the surface of the layer. The method further comprises forming cavities () by dissolving the alkali compound embossings. The method () is advantageous for nanopatterning of devices () without using templates and for the production of high efficiency optoelectronic thin-film devices ().

Self-assembly patterning for fabricating thin-film devices

A method for fabricating thin-film optoelectronic devices (), the method comprising: providing a alkali-nondiffusing substrate (), forming a back-contact layer (); forming at least one absorber layer () made of an ABC chalcogenide material, adding least one and advantageously at least two different alkali metals, and forming at least one front-contact layer () wherein one of said alkali metals comprise Rb and/or Cs and where, following forming said front-contact layer, in the interval of layers () from back-contact layer (), exclusive, to front-contact layer (), inclusive, the comprised amounts resulting from adding alkali metals are, for Rb and/or Cs, in the range of 500 to 10000 ppm and, for the other alkali metals, typically Na or K, in the range of 5 to 2000 ppm and at most 1/2 and at least 1/2000 of the comprised amount of Rb and/or Cs. The method () is advantageous for more environmentally-friendly production of photovoltaic devices on flexible substrates with high photovoltaic conversion efficiency and faster production rate.

A method () and deposition zone apparatus () for fabricating thin-film optoelectronic devices (), the method comprising: providing a potassium-nondiffusing substrate (), forming a back-contact layer (); forming at least one absorber layer () made of an ABC chalcogenide material, adding at least two different alkali metals, and forming at least one front-contact layer () wherein one of said at least two different alkali metals is potassium and where, following forming said front-contact layer, in the interval of layers () from back-contact layer (), exclusive, to front-contact layer (), inclusive, the comprised amounts resulting from adding at least two different alkali metals are, for potassium, in the range of 500 to 10000 ppm and, for the other of said at least two different alkali metals, in the range of 5 to 2000 ppm and at most &#xbd; and at least 1/2000 of the comprised amount of potassium. The method () and apparatus () are advantageous for more environmentally-friendly production of photovoltaic devices () on flexible substrates with high photovoltaic conversion efficiency and faster production rate.

Fabricating thin-film optoelectronic devices with added potassium

A method to fabricate thin-film photovoltaic devices including a photovoltaic Cu(In,Ga)Seor equivalent ABC absorber layer, such as an ABClayer, deposited onto a back-contact layer characterized in that the method includes at least five deposition steps, during which the pair of third and fourth steps are sequentially repeatable, in the presence of at least one C element over one or more steps. In the first step at least one B element is deposited, followed in the second by deposition of A and B elements at a deposition rate ratio A/B, in the third at a ratio A/Blower than the previous, in the fourth at a ratio A/Bhigher than the previous, and in the fifth depositing only B elements to achieve a final ratio A/B of total deposited elements.

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Herznach, Switzerland

Adrian Chirila