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:
Sep. 02, 2025
Filed:
Jan. 06, 2023
Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of Arizona State University, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Yong-Hang Zhang, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Xin Qi, Tempe, AZ (US);
Zheng Ju, Tempe, AZ (US);
Jia Ding, Tempe, AZ (US);
Tyler Mccarthy, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Stephen Schaefer, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Abstract
Contacts for solar cells and other optoelectronic devices are provided. Embodiments described herein take advantage of the surface Fermi level pinning effect to build an electrical field inside of a semiconductor to extract or inject carriers for solar cells, photodetectors, and light-emitting device applications. For example, n-type or p-type two-dimensional (2D) materials can be used in contact with an n-type semiconductor to form a 'p-region' so that a p-n junction, or an i-n or n-n+ junction can be constructed. Similarly, n-type or p-type 2D materials can be used in contact with a p-type semiconductor to form an “n-region” so that an n-p junction, or an i-p or p-p+ junction can be constructed. These structures can provide sufficiently high electrical field inside the semiconductor to extract photogenerated carriers in solar cells and photodetectors or inject minority carriers for light-emitting devices.