Imec Vzw

Imec

Interuniversitair Microelektronica Centrum (imec)

Umicore, N.v.

Other

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Ku Leuven R&d

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Umicore

Interuniversitair Micorelektronica Centrum (imec, Vzw)

Katholieke Universiteit, Ku Leuven R&d

Fernuniversitat Hagen

Agfa Gevaert Nv

Kuwait University

Limburgs Universitair Centrum

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, K.u. Leuven Research & Development

Jef Poortmans

Giovanni Flamand

Renat Bilyalov

Niels Posthuma

Matty Caymax

Johan F Nijs

Maria Jesus Recaman Payo

Chetan Singh Solanki

Wim Geens

Hariharsudan Sivaramakrishnan Radhakrishnan

Khalid Said

Lieven Stalmans

Francky Catthoor

Hieronymus Andriessen

Dirk Vanderzande

Kris A Baert

Vikas Dubey

Guy Beaucarne

Twan Bearda

Filip Duerinckx

Wolfgang Rainer Fahrner

Alexander Ulyashin

Menglei Xu

Jinyoun Cho

Tom Aernouts

Carmen Bartic

Johan Van Der Heide

Christiaan Baert

Hans Goverde

Yuandong Li

Maarten Debucquoy

Yaser Abdulraheem

Arttu Tuomiranta

Mohammed Gofran Chowdhury

Bader S H M Aldalali

Raed I H M Bourisli

Mustafa Ghannam

A method includes depositing a first layer including amorphous silicon on a surface of a substrate; depositing a second layer including metal on the first layer; and performing an annealing process at a temperature within a range of 70&#xb0; C. to 200&#xb0; C., thereby inducing a silicidation reaction between the first layer and the second layer and forming a third layer comprising a metal silicide in electrical contact with the substrate, resulting in a remaining part of the first layer being between the substrate and the third layer.

Method for forming a passivating electrical contact on a crystalline semiconductor substrate and device comprising such contact

The disclosed technology generally relates to silicon solar cells and more particularly to a doped layer formed on a textured surface of a silicon solar cell, and methods of fabricating the same. In one aspect, a method of creating a doped layer at a rear side of a crystalline silicon bifacial solar cell is disclosed. The method can include texturing at least a rear side of a silicon substrate of the solar cell to create a pattern of pyramids, thereby creating a pyramidal topology of the rear side. The method can also include forming a doped layer at the rear side by, using epitaxial growth, growing at least one doped silicon epitaxial layer on the pyramids. Simultaneously with forming the doped layer and by using facet evolution, the pyramidal topology of the rear side can be smoothed by the growth of the at least one epitaxial layer. The epitaxial growth can be continued until, on upper parts of a majority of the pyramids, an angle between a surface of the at least one epitaxial layer and the substrate is between 5 to 35&#xb0;. A crystalline silicon bifacial solar cell is also disclosed.

Smoothed doped layer for solar cell

Example embodiments relate to selective deposition for interdigitated patterns in solar cells. One embodiment includes a method for creating an interdigitated pattern for a solar cell. The method includes providing a substrate of the solar cell. A surface of the substrate includes one or more exposed regions and one or more regions covered by a patterned first passivation layer stack protected by a hard mask. The method also includes selectively depositing a second passivation layer stack that includes at least a first layer of amorphous silicon (a-Si) on the one or more exposed regions such that the first passivation layer stack and the second passivation layer stack form the interdigitated pattern. Selectively depositing the second passivation layer stack includes adding a sublayer of the first layer on the hard mask, etching the added sublayer on the hard mask, and cleaning a surface of the remaining added sublayer.

Selective deposition for interdigitated patterns in solar cells

A method is provided for creating an interdigitated pattern for a back-contacted solar cell, including deposition of a first passivation layer stack including a-Si of a first doping type, patterning the first passivation layer stack by using a first dry etching process to create one or more regions including the a-Si of the first doping type and one or more exposed regions of the surface, cleaning the one or more exposed regions of the surface from contaminants remaining from the first dry etching process, and depositing a second passivation layer stack including a-Si of a second doping type different from the first doping type to create the interdigitated pattern together with the patterned first passivation layer stack. The cleaning may include depositing a sacrificial layer at least on the exposed regions of the surface, and removing the sacrificial layer by a second dry etching process, at a temperature not exceeding 250&#xb0; C.

Method of cleaning an exposed surface of a back contacted solar cell by depositing and removing a sacrificial layer

A method is provided for calculating a performance of a photovoltaic module comprising at least a first photovoltaic cell and a second photovoltaic cell. The method comprises calculating a heat flow between the first photovoltaic cell and the second photovoltaic cell using a first thermal equivalent circuit of the first photovoltaic cell and a second thermal equivalent circuit of the second photovoltaic cell, wherein at least one node of the first thermal equivalent circuit is connected to a corresponding node of the second thermal equivalent circuit by a thermal coupling resistance. The method may be used for calculating the influence of spatial and temporal variations in the operation conditions on the performance, such as the energy yield, of a photovoltaic module or a photovoltaic system.

Simulation of photovoltaic modules

A method is disclosed for passivating and contacting a surface of a germanium substrate. A passivation layer of amorphous silicon material is formed on the germanium surface. A contact layer of metal, e.g., aluminum, is then formed on the passivation layer. The structure is heated so that the germanium surface makes contact with the contact layer. The aluminum contact layer can be configured for use as a mirroring surface for the back surface of the device. Thus, a passivated germanium surface is disclosed, as well as a solar cell comprising such a structure.

Germanium solar cell and method for the production thereof

A method is disclosed for passivating and contacting a surface of a germanium substrate. A passivation layer of amorphous silicon material is formed on the germanium surface. A contact layer of metal is then formed on the passivation. The structure is heated so that the germanium surface makes contact with the contact layer. Thus, a passivated germanium surface is disclosed, as well as a solar cell comprising such a structure.

Methods for manufacturing electronic devices and devices produced by those methods are disclosed. One such method includes releasably bonding a first surface of a device substrate to a face of a first carrier substrate using a first bonding agent to produce a first composite substrate, where the face of the first carrier substrate includes a pattern of trenches. The method also includes processing the device substrate to manufacture an electronic device on a second surface of the device substrate. The method further includes releasing the device substrate from the first carrier substrate by a releasing agent.

Method for the manufacture of electronic devices on substrates and devices related thereto

The present invention is related to a photovoltaic device, the device comprising a first layer of a first semiconductor material of a first conductivity type, a second layer of a second semiconductor material of the opposite conductivity type of the first layer, and a third layer of a third porous semiconductor material situated between the first layer and the second layer. The present invention also provides a method for producing the photovoltaic device.

Photovoltaic device

In one inventive aspect, a thin film device is manufactured by (a) forming a porous semiconductor layer in the form of a thin film on an original substrate, the formation being immediately followed by (b) separation of the thin film by a lift-off process from the original substrate; (c) transfer of the thin film to a dummy support, the thin film not being attached to the dummy support; (d) fabrication of a device on top of the thin film; and (e) transfer and attachment of said device on said thin film on a foreign substrate.

Method for making thin film devices intended for solar cells or silicon-on-insulator (SOI) applications

An organic field-effect transistor comprises source and drain electrodes formed separately from each other on a substrate, wherein the substrate comprises at least an organic semiconductor layer constituting a channel between the source and drain electrodes, an insulation layer underlying the organic semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode formed on the opposite side of the isolation layer. The organic semiconductor layer comprises hole and electron transporters, wherein the electron transporters comprise (6,6)-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), and wherein the hole transporters comprise poly(2-methoxy-5-(3&prime;,7&prime;-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylene-vinylene)(OC C -PPV) and/or poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT).

Ambipolar organic transistor

A thin-film opto-electronic device on a conductive silicon-containing substrate includes a sequence of layers. The layers include a layer of a porous medium preferably a porous silicon, on a substrate. The porous layer has both light diffusing and light reflecting properties. In addition, a non-porous layer is located on said porous silicon layer, with at least one first region and at least one second region being in said non-porous layer. The first region is of a first conductivity type acting as a light absorber and the second region has a conductivity of a second type, different from said first conductivity type. The sequence of layers is such that optical confinement is realised in the device.

Thin-film opto-electronic device and a method of making it

The present invention is related to a thin-film opto-electronic device and a method of fabricating the same. Particularly this thin film opto-electronic device is fabricated on a Si-containing substrate. The thin-film material is a crystalline semiconductor material. In order to increase the efficiency of this device a porous silicon layer is applied between the thin-film and the substrate. This porous silicon layer has both light reflecting and light diffusing properties thereby giving rise to light confinement in the thin-film.

A method for the manufacture, formation, and removal of porous layers in a semiconductor substrate having at least a surface acting as a cathode. The method comprises applying a solution comprising negative Fluorine (F ) ions between the surface of the semiconductor substrate and an anode. The method further comprises applying a predetermined current between the anode and the cathode. The method further comprises maintaining the predetermined current at substantially the same current value for a sufficient amount of time to obtain a low porosity layer at said surface. A high porosity layer positioned under the low porosity layer is also obtained by the method of the invention.

Method for the formation and lift-off of porous silicon layers

Growing community of inventors

Kessel-lo, Belgium

Jef Poortmans