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:
Dec. 18, 2007
Filed:
Dec. 14, 2001
Daniel J. Friedman, Lakewood, CO (US);
John F. Geisz, Wheat Ridge, CO (US);
Daniel J. Friedman, Lakewood, CO (US);
John F. Geisz, Wheat Ridge, CO (US);
Midwest Research Institute, Kansas City, MO (US);
Abstract
A multi-junction solar cell device () is provided. The multi-junction solar cell device () comprises either two or three active solar cells connected in series in a monolithic structure. The multi-junction device () comprises a bottom active cell () having a single-crystal silicon substrate base and an emitter layer (). The multi-junction device () further comprises one or two subsequent active cells each having a base layer () and an emitter layer () with interconnecting tunnel junctions between each active cell. At least one layer that forms each of the top and middle active cells is composed of a single-crystal III-V semiconductor alloy that is substantially lattice-matched to the silicon substrate (). The polarity of the active p-n junction cells is either p-on-n or n-on-p. The present invention further includes a method for substantially lattice matching single-crystal III-V semiconductor layers with the silicon substrate () by including boron and/or nitrogen in the chemical structure of these layers.