Novellus Systems Incorporated

Beijing Apollo Ding Rong Solar Technology Co., Ltd.

University of Illinois

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC

Weijie Zhang

Vishal Gauri

Atiye Bayman

Bart Jan Van Schravendijk

Vikram Singh

John Frederick Corson

Neil Mackie

Md Sazzadur Rahman

George D Papasouliotis

Ron Rulkens

Mats Larsson

Robert D Tas

Alex Austin

Korhan Demirkan

Jochen Titus

Robert Zubeck

Ajay Saproo

Dan Vitkavage

Swati Sevanna

George D Papasoulitotis

Randy Dorn

Asit Rairkar

Vincenzo Lordi

Angus A Rockett

Joel Varley

Geordie Zapalac

Mayasari Lim

Xiaoqing He

Yong Ling

A method of manufacturing a photovoltaic structure includes forming a p-type semiconductor absorber layer containing a copper indium gallium selenide based material over a first electrode, forming a n-type cadmium sulfide layer over the p-type semiconductor absorber layer by sputtering in an ambient including hydrogen gas and oxygen gas, and forming a second electrode over the cadmium sulfide layer.

Hexagonal phase epitaxial cadmium sulfide on copper indium gallium selenide for a photovoltaic junction

A solar cell containing a plurality of CIGS absorber sublayers has a conversion efficiency of at least 13.4 percent and a minority carrier lifetime below 2 nanoseconds. The sublayers may have a different composition from each other.

Photovoltaic cell with high efficiency CIGS absorber layer with low minority carrier lifetime and method of making thereof

Photovoltaic cell with high efficiency cigs absorber layer with low minority carrier lifetime and method of making thereof

High density plasma chemical vapor deposition and etch back processes fill high aspect ratio gaps without liner erosion or further underlying structure attack. The characteristics of the deposition process are modulated such that the deposition component of the process initially dominates the sputter component of the process. For example, reactive gasses are introduced in a gradient fashion into the HDP reactor and introduction of bias power onto the substrate is delayed and gradually increased or reactor pressure is decreased. In the case of a multi-step etch enhanced gap fill process, the invention may involve gradually modulating deposition and etch components during transitions between process steps. By carefully controlling the transitions between process steps, including the introduction of reactive species into the HDP reactor and the application of source and bias power onto the substrate, structure erosion is prevented.

Process modulation to prevent structure erosion during gap fill

Chemical vapor deposition processes are employed to fill high aspect ratio (typically at least 3:1), narrow width (typically 1.5 microns or less and even sub 0.15 micron) gaps with significantly reduced incidence of voids or weak spots. This deposition process involves the use of hydrogen as a process gas in the reactive mixture of a plasma containing CVD reactor. The process gas also includes dielectric forming precursor molecules such as silicon and oxygen containing molecules.

Gap fill for high aspect ratio structures

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Weijie Zhang