Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Siemens Solar Gmbh

Wolfgang Kruehler

Josef Grabmaier

Rolf Plaettner

Arthur Endroes

Richard Einzinger

Peter Milla

The present invention provides an improved method for manufacturing highly efficient and especially thin polycrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells. More particularly, the present invention provides a silicon nucleation layer produced on amorphous substrates with a nucleation layer being selectively etched until uniformly &lt;111&gt; orientated nuclei remain. A silicon thin-film grown thereover is coarse-crystalline, has grain boundaries residing perpendicular to the substrate and has a pyramid structure as a consequence of the uniform orientation. High photocurrents can already be achieved with solar cells manufactured therefrom beginning with a layer thickness of 10 .mu.m.

Method for manufacturing polycrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells

A new solar cell of a I-III-VI.sub.2 semiconductor material that has an inversion layer is provided. The cell comprises a substrate having an electrically conductive, first electrode, a p-conductive, polycrystalline semiconductor layer of chalcopyrite material, a barrier layer composed of an electrically non-conductive material, a second electrode, and an antireflection layer. The anti-reflection layer has stationary, positive charges that induce a negatively charged inversion layer in the boundary surface region of the semiconductor layer relative to the barrier layer. The negatively charged inversion layer serves as an emitter for a space charge zone. In an embodiment the invention comprises a semiconductor layer of copper-indium-diselenide or copper-gallium-diselenide, a barrier layer of silicon dioxide, an anti-reflection layer of silicon nitride, and cesium chloride as the stationary charges.

Induced junction chalcopyrite solar cell

A tandem solar module and a method for the manufacture thereof. The tandem solar module has a first, large-area, lower solar sub-module of polycrystalline silicon (c-Si), has an electrically insulating, transparent intermediate layer functioning as an optical coupler, and also has a second, transparent, upper sub-module of amorphous, hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H). Both sub-modules are provided with mutually independent electrical contacts and each is functional in and of itself. An active material in the first sub-module that is preferably structured strip-shaped can be composed of silicon strips produced in a band drawing method. The second sub-module is executed in thin-film technology in a known way and has a p-i-n structure. Its substrate serves as a covering for the overall module. The tandem solar module exhibits high efficiency and is cost-effective to be manufactured. It can be manufactured with a large-area and exhibits high long-term stability.

Method of making tandem solar cell module

Method for manufacturing a series-connected thin-film solar module of crystalline silicon upon which is formed an electrically conductive layer upon which is formed a p-doped polycrystalline silicon layer which is about 50 microns thick both being deposited on a large area of glass or ceramic substrate and a pn junction is formed in the p-doped polycrystalline silicon layer. Individual cells that have a width between one to two centimeters are formed by forming trenches so as to electrically insulate them from each other in the silicon layer and the trenches are filled with an insulator material. Front electrodes and electrodes for series interconnecting the individual cells are formed over the cells and into holes formed for that purpose and the method saves up to 80% of silicon material as compared to prior art methods.

Method of making series-connected, thin-film solar module formed of

A method for the manufacture of gallium arsenide thin film solar cells on inexpensive substrate material whereby an intermediate layer of highly doped, amorphous germanium is employed in order to promote the growth of the gallium arsenide layers. A high-energy radiation is directed to specific, prescribed points on the highly doped, amorphous germanium layer thereby generating centers having a defined crystal orientation, so that the epitaxial layer spreads laterally from these centers in a surface-covering fashion during the epitaxial vapor phase deposition. The solar cells produced by designational grain growth can be manufactured with high purity in a simple way and have an efficiency (greater than 20%) comparable to known mono-crystalline solar cells.

Method for the manufacture of gallium arsenide thin film solar cells

A storage material for hydrogen comprised of amorphous silicon containing phosphorous, in addition to hydrogen (a-Si:H:P). In certain embodiments, such storage material is produced via a glow discharge plasma from a reactive gas mixture in accordance with a fluidized bed method or by quenching a phosphorous-doped silicon melt at a relatively high cooling rate. By admixing phosphorous with silicon, the absorption capacity of the resultant phosphorous-doped silicon material for hydrogen can be increased by a factor of 2 with the same production temperatures (200.degree. C.). The storage material is useful in energy storage tanks (cheap and easily mass-produced).

Storage material for hydrogen utilizing amorphous silicon and a method

Semiconductor bodies comprised of amorphous silicon are produced by sequentially depositing a plurality of amorphous silicon layers on a heat-resistant substrate by glow discharge in a silicon halide atmosphere at low pressures and low substrate temperatures, with each layer being hydrogenated with atomic hydrogen before deposition of the next subsequent layer. The semiconductor bodies thus produced are useful as basic or raw materials for fabricating solar cells.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor bodies composed of amorphous

Monocrystalline substrates of gadolinium yttrium penta-ultraphosphate are coated with an epitaxial layer of neodymium yttrium penta-ultraphosphate to produce a wave guiding, laser active, solid state devices. The preparation procedure involves heating a solution of neodymium oxide and yttrium oxide in phosphoric acid to about 500.degree. C. with holding points being interposed at about 180.degree. C. and at about 370.degree. C. After the solution has been held at 500.degree. C. for about 12 through 15 hours, a preformed substrate monocrystal of gadolinium yttrium penta-ultraphosphate is introduced thereinto and a layer of monocrystalline neodymium yttrium penta-ultraphosphate is grown thereon.

Growing community of inventors

Unterhaching, Germany

Wolfgang Kruehler