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:
Oct. 21, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 12, 2001
Wen-Chiang Huang, Auburn, AL (US);
Liangwei Wu, Auburn, AL (US);
Nanotek Instruments, Inc., Fargo, ND (US);
Abstract
A method for depositing a coating onto a solid substrate for the fabrication of a functional layer in a solar cell device wherein the functional layer is used as an anti-reflection layer, an active layer for photon absorption and charge generation, a buffer layer, a window layer, or an electrode layer. The method includes: (a) providing an ionized arc nozzle that includes a consumable electrode, a non-consumable electrode, and a working gas flow to form an ionized arc between the two electrodes, wherein the consumable electrode provides a metal material vaporizable therefrom by the ionized arc; (b) operating the arc nozzle to heat and at least partially vaporize the metal material for providing a stream of nanometer-sized vapor clusters of the metal material into a coating chamber in which the substrate is disposed; (c) introducing a stream of a reactive gas into the coating chamber to impinge upon the stream of metal vapor clusters and exothermically react therewith to produce substantially nanometer-sized compound semiconductor or ceramic clusters; and (d) directing the compound semiconductor or ceramic clusters to deposit onto the substrate for forming the coating.