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:
Apr. 21, 2015
Filed:
Sep. 23, 2013
Applicant:
Intermolecular, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Inventors:
Jeroen Van Duren, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Haifan Liang, Fremont, CA (US);
Assignee:
Intermolecular, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 31/102 (2006.01); H01L 31/00 (2006.01); H01L 31/18 (2006.01); H01L 31/065 (2012.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 31/18 (2013.01); H01L 31/065 (2013.01);
Abstract
Optical absorbers, solar cells comprising the absorbers, and methods for making the absorbers are disclosed. The optical absorber comprises a semiconductor layer having a bandgap of between about 1.0 eV and about 1.6 eV disposed on a substrate, wherein the semiconductor comprises two or more earth abundant elements. The bandgap of the optical absorber is graded through the thickness of the layer by partial substitution of at least one grading element from the same group in the periodic table as the at least one of the two or more earth abundant elements.