Flisom Ag

Empa

Flison Ag

Patrick Reinhard

Adrian Chirila

Ayodhya Nath Tiwari

Fabian Pianezzi

Stephan Buecheler

Benjamin Bissig

Moritz Wehrle

Stephan Brunken

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 substrate (), forming a back-contact layer (); forming at least one absorber layer () made of an ABC chalcogenide material, adding at least one alkali metal (), and forming at least one cavity () at the surface of the absorber layer wherein forming of said at least one cavity is by dissolving away from said surface of the absorber layer at least one crystal aggregate comprising at least one alkali crystal comprising at least one alkali metal. 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 modified surface

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 () 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 (); 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 pattering for fabricating thin-film devices

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.

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Zurich, Switzerland

Patrick Reinhard