International Business Machines Corporation

Globalfoundries Inc.

Nexcis

Raman Vaidyanathan

Hariklia Deligianni

Lian Guo

Lubomyr Taras Romankiw

Qiang Huang

Shafaat Ahmed

Harold John Hovel

Kathleen B Reuter

Salvador Jaime

Philippe De Gasquet

The invention relates to manufacturing a I-III-VI compound in the form of a thin film for use in photovoltaics, including the steps of: a) electrodepositing a thin-film structure, consisting of I and/or III elements, onto the surface of an electrode that forms a substrate (SUB); and b) incorporating at least one VI element into the structure so as to obtain the I-III-VI compound. According to the invention, the electrodeposition step comprises checking that the uniformity of the thickness of the thin film varies by no more than 3% over the entire surface of the substrate receiving the deposition.

Checking the stoichiometry of I-III-VI layers for use in photovoltaic using improved electrolysis conditions

A structure and method of making a thin-film solar cell is provided. A thin-film solar cell includes a substrate, absorber layer and a buffer layer. The absorber layer is deposited by a single-step bulk electrochemical process, or a multi-layer electrochemical process. The buffer layer is deposited by an electrochemical deposition process such as a multi-layer deposition or an atomic layer deposition. The absorber and buffer layers are non-toxic materials which can include sulfur incorporated during the deposition process or incorporated after deposition by an anneal step.

Electrodeposition of thin-film cells containing non-toxic elements

Photovoltaic devices and methods for preparing a p-type semiconductor generally include electroplating a layer of gallium or a gallium alloy onto a conductive layer by contacting the conductive layer with a plating bath free of complexing agents including a gallium salt, methane sulfonic acid or sodium sulfate and an organic additive comprising at least one nitrogen atom and/or at least one sulfur atom, and a solvent; adjusting a pH of the solution to be less than 2.6 or greater than 12.6. The photovoltaic device includes an impurity in the p-type semiconductor layer selected from the group consisting of arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and mixtures thereof. Various photovoltaic precursor layers for forming CIS, CGS and CIGS p-type semiconductor structures can be formed by electroplating the gallium or gallium alloys in this manner. Also disclosed are processes for forming a thermal interface of gallium or a gallium alloy.

Electrodeposition methods of gallium and gallium alloy films and related photovoltaic structures

In one aspect, a method for fabricating a thin film solar cell includes the following steps. A first absorber material is deposited as a layer A on a substrate while applying pressure to the substrate/layer A. A second absorber material is deposited as a layer B on layer A while applying pressure to the substrate/layer B. A third absorber material is deposited as a layer C on layer B while applying pressure to the substrate/layer C. A fourth absorber material is deposited as a layer D on layer C while applying pressure to the substrate/layer D. The first absorber material comprises copper, the second absorber material comprises indium, the third absorber material comprises gallium, and the fourth absorber material comprises one or more of sulfur and selenium, and wherein by way of performing the steps of claima chalcogenide absorber layer is formed on the substrate.

Pressure transfer process for thin film solar cell fabrication

A structure and method of making a thin-film solar cell. A thin-film solar cell includes a substrate, absorber layer and a buffer layer. The absorber layer is deposited by a single-step bulk electrochemical process, or a multi-layer electrochemical process. The buffer layer is deposited by an electrochemical deposition process such as a multi-layer deposition or an atomic layer deposition. The absorber and buffer layers are non-toxic materials which can include sulfur incorporated during the deposition process or incorporated after deposition by an anneal step.

A piezoelectric based energy supply includes a multiplicity of mechanical actuators able to be displaced through operation by an operator from a first position and a second position. A multiplicity of independent piezoelectric components is disposed below the multiplicity of actuators. Each independent piezoelectric component within the multiplicity of independent piezoelectric components is associated with at least one respective actuator in the multiplicity of actuators and is adapted to be deformed by displacement of the at least one respective actuator within the plurality of actuators from a first position and a second position. An electrical coupler electrically couples each of the multiplicity of independent piezoelectric components.

Piezoelectric based energy supply using independent piezoelectric components

A method of reducing the loss of elements of a photovoltaic thin film structure during an annealing process, includes depositing a thin film on a substrate, wherein the thin film includes a single chemical element or a chemical compound, coating the thin film with a protective layer to form a coated thin film structure, wherein the protective layer prevents part of the single chemical element or part of the chemical compound from escaping during an annealing process, and annealing the coated thin film structure to form a coated photovoltaic thin film structure, wherein the coated photovoltaic thin film retains the part of the single chemical element or the part of the chemical compound that is prevented from escaping during the annealing by the protective layer.

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Yorktown Heights, NY, United States of America

Raman Vaidyanathan