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:
May. 31, 2016
Filed:
Jul. 30, 2015
Solaero Technologies Corp., Albuquerque, NM (US);
Arthur Cornfeld, Sandy Springs, GA (US);
Pravin Patel, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Mark A. Stan, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Benjamin Cho, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Paul R. Sharps, Alburquerque, NM (US);
Daniel J. Aiken, Cedar Crest, NM (US);
John Spann, Albuquerque, NM (US);
SolAero Technologies Corp., Albuquerque, NM (US);
Abstract
A multijunction solar cell having at least four solar subcells includes a first solar subcell having a first band gap. A first graded interlayer adjacent to the first solar subcell and has a second band gap greater than the first band gap and that is constant at 1.5 eV throughout the thickness of the first graded interlayer. A second solar subcell is adjacent to the first graded interlayer and has a third band gap smaller than the first band gap of the first solar subcell. The second solar subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to the first solar subcell. A second graded interlayer is adjacent to the second solar subcell and has a fourth band gap greater than the third band gap of the second solar subcell and that is constant at 1.1 eV throughout the thickness of the second graded interlayer. A third solar subcell is adjacent to the second graded interlayer and has a fifth band gap smaller than the third band gap of the second solar subcell. The third solar subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to the second solar subcell. Each of the first and second graded interlayers is composed, respectively, of a compositionally step-graded series of (InGa)AlAs layers with monotonically changing lattice constant, with x and y having respective values such that the band gap of each interlayer remains constant throughout its thickness, and wherein 0<x<1 and 0<y<1.