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:
Jun. 22, 2010
Filed:
Aug. 12, 2008
Arthur Cornfeld, Sandia Park, NM (US);
Tansen Varghese, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Jacqueline Diaz, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Arthur Cornfeld, Sandia Park, NM (US);
Tansen Varghese, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Jacqueline Diaz, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Emcore Solar Power, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (US);
Abstract
A method of forming a multifunction solar cell including an upper subcell, a middle subcell, and a lower subcell by providing a first substrate for the epitaxial growth of semiconductor material; forming a first solar subcell on the substrate having a first band gap; forming a second solar subcell over the first solar subcell having a second band gap smaller than the first band gap; forming a graded interlayer over the second subcell, the graded interlayer having a third band gap greater than the second band gap; forming a third solar subcell over the graded interlayer having a fourth band gap smaller than the second band gap such that the third subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to the second subcell; attaching a surrogate second substrate over the third solar subcell and removing the first substrate; and etching a first trough around the periphery of the solar cell to the surrogate second substrate so as to form a mesa structure on the surrogate second substrate and facilitate the removal of said solar cell from the surrogate second substrate.