The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 30, 2019
Filed:
Dec. 08, 2016
Applicant:
First Solar, Inc., Tempe, AZ (US);
Inventors:
Changming Jin, Perrysburg, OH (US);
Sanghyun Lee, Perrysburg, OH (US);
Jun-Ying Zhang, Perrysburg, OH (US);
Assignee:
First Solar, Inc., Tempe, AZ (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 31/18 (2006.01); H01L 31/073 (2012.01); H01L 31/0264 (2006.01); H01L 31/0272 (2006.01); H01L 21/02 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 31/073 (2013.01); H01L 31/0264 (2013.01); H01L 31/0272 (2013.01); H01L 31/1868 (2013.01); H01J 2237/335 (2013.01); H01L 21/02422 (2013.01); H01L 21/02491 (2013.01); H01L 21/02551 (2013.01); H01L 21/02664 (2013.01); Y02E 10/543 (2013.01); Y02P 70/521 (2015.11);
Abstract
Disclosed are methods for the surface cleaning and passivation of PV absorbers, such as CdTe substrates usable in solar cells, and devices made by such methods. In some embodiments, the method involves an anode layer ion source (ALIS) plasma discharge process to clean and oxidize a CdTe surface to produce a thin oxide layer between the CdTe layer and subsequent back contact layer(s).