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:
May. 20, 1986
Filed:
Sep. 24, 1984
Prem Nath, Rochester, MI (US);
Timothy J Barnard, Lake Orion, MI (US);
Dominic Crea, Mt. Clemens, MI (US);
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., Troy, MI (US);
Abstract
Disclosed is an improved photovoltaic device design and method. The design is especially useful for large area photovoltaic devices and includes a first electrode, a semiconductor body over the first electrode, a transparent electrically conductive layer over the semiconductor body and a bus grid structure in electrical contact with the conductor layer for collecting and carrying current generated by the photovoltaic device. Structure is provided for reducing the degrading effect of a low resistance current path or short in the semiconductor body. The structure for reducing the degrading effect of a low resistance current path can be a specifically designed transparent electrically conductive layer, electrical isolation of the current carrying portions of the bus grid structure from the conductive layer, resistive connections of the current collecting fingers to the remainder of the bus grid structure, a buffered bus grid structure or a fuse-type connection or the grid or current collecting fingers which terminates when the current reaches a predetermined amount. Methods of fabricating photovoltaic devices as disclosed herein are provided.