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:
Aug. 12, 1986
Filed:
Jul. 11, 1985
Yukihisa Takeuchi, Chita, JP;
Masaaki Mori, Bisai, JP;
Kenji Maekawa, Kariya, JP;
Toshiaki Nishizawa, Ohbu, JP;
Nippondenso Co., Ltd., Kariya, JP;
Abstract
A flexible amorphous silicon solar battery comprising a metal foil as the substrate thereof, an insulating layer integrally formed on the metal foil, and at least one amorphous silicon photoelectric conversion portion formed on the insulating layer. The amorphous silicon photoelectric conversion portion thereof comprises an a-Si thin film having a potential barrier therein, an upper electrode and a lower electrode. The a-Si thin film is sandwiched between the upper and lower electrodes. The upper electrodes may be formed of a transparent conductive film. The transparent conductive film may be also in two layers composed of a relatively thin tin dioxide film and a relatively thick ITO film thereby to lower the resistance of transparent conductive film and to obtain a superior a-Si thin film having no impurity particles therein. A plurality of a-Si photoelectric conversion portions may be formed on the same substrate, and are connected in series with one another, to increase the output voltage thereof. The a-Si photoelectric conversion portions may be formed as forward junction and/or reverse junction types. The a-Si solar battery of this invention is flexible because of use of a metal foil with thickness of 10 to 250 .mu.m such as stainless steel, aluminum or iron as the substrate thereof, so that it can be easily attached to a product having a curved surface thereon, such as an automobile or the like. Further, there are no problems or disadvantages, such as spallings and cracks of the a-Si thin film, or deterioration of the physical properties thereof, so that the a-Si solar battery of this invention can provide excellent conversion efficiency.