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:
Feb. 18, 2014
Filed:
Aug. 04, 2010
Stephen W. Bedell, Wappingers Falls, NY (US);
Harold J. Hovel, Katonah, NY (US);
Daniel A. Inns, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Jee H. Kim, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Alexander Reznicek, Mount Kisco, NY (US);
Devendra K. Sadana, Pleasantville, NY (US);
Stephen W. Bedell, Wappingers Falls, NY (US);
Harold J. Hovel, Katonah, NY (US);
Daniel A. Inns, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Jee H. Kim, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Alexander Reznicek, Mount Kisco, NY (US);
Devendra K. Sadana, Pleasantville, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A photovoltaic device includes a composition modulated semiconductor structure including a p-doped first semiconductor material layer, a first intrinsic compositionally-graded semiconductor material layer, an intrinsic semiconductor material layer, a second intrinsic compositionally-graded semiconductor layer, and an n-doped first semiconductor material layer. The first and second intrinsic compositionally-graded semiconductor material layers include an alloy of a first semiconductor material having a greater band gap width and a second semiconductor material having a smaller band gap with, and the concentration of the second semiconductor material increases toward the intrinsic semiconductor material layer in the first and second compositionally-graded semiconductor material layers. The photovoltaic device provides an open circuit voltage comparable to that of the first semiconductor material, and a short circuit current comparable to that of the second semiconductor material, thereby increasing the efficiency of the photovoltaic device.