WO2011085196A3 - Quantum well waveguide solar cells and methods of constructing the same - Google Patents

Quantum well waveguide solar cells and methods of constructing the same Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2011085196A3
WO2011085196A3 PCT/US2011/020513 US2011020513W WO2011085196A3 WO 2011085196 A3 WO2011085196 A3 WO 2011085196A3 US 2011020513 W US2011020513 W US 2011020513W WO 2011085196 A3 WO2011085196 A3 WO 2011085196A3
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
energy gap
junction
constructing
methods
same
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/US2011/020513
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French (fr)
Other versions
WO2011085196A2 (en
Inventor
Roger E. Welser
Ashok K. Sood
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Magnolia Solar Inc
Original Assignee
Magnolia Solar Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Magnolia Solar Inc filed Critical Magnolia Solar Inc
Publication of WO2011085196A2 publication Critical patent/WO2011085196A2/en
Publication of WO2011085196A3 publication Critical patent/WO2011085196A3/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F77/00—Constructional details of devices covered by this subclass
    • H10F77/30—Coatings
    • H10F77/306—Coatings for devices having potential barriers
    • H10F77/311—Coatings for devices having potential barriers for photovoltaic cells
    • H10F77/315—Coatings for devices having potential barriers for photovoltaic cells the coatings being antireflective or having enhancing optical properties
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
    • B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
    • B82Y20/00—Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F10/00—Individual photovoltaic cells, e.g. solar cells
    • H10F10/10—Individual photovoltaic cells, e.g. solar cells having potential barriers
    • H10F10/13—Photovoltaic cells having absorbing layers comprising graded bandgaps
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F10/00—Individual photovoltaic cells, e.g. solar cells
    • H10F10/10—Individual photovoltaic cells, e.g. solar cells having potential barriers
    • H10F10/16—Photovoltaic cells having only PN heterojunction potential barriers
    • H10F10/163—Photovoltaic cells having only PN heterojunction potential barriers comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs/AlGaAs or InP/GaInAs photovoltaic cells
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F10/00—Individual photovoltaic cells, e.g. solar cells
    • H10F10/10—Individual photovoltaic cells, e.g. solar cells having potential barriers
    • H10F10/17—Photovoltaic cells having only PIN junction potential barriers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F71/00—Manufacture or treatment of devices covered by this subclass
    • H10F71/139—Manufacture or treatment of devices covered by this subclass using temporary substrates
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F77/00—Constructional details of devices covered by this subclass
    • H10F77/10—Semiconductor bodies
    • H10F77/12—Active materials
    • H10F77/124—Active materials comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs
    • H10F77/1248—Active materials comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs having three or more elements, e.g. GaAlAs, InGaAs or InGaAsP
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F77/00—Constructional details of devices covered by this subclass
    • H10F77/10—Semiconductor bodies
    • H10F77/14—Shape of semiconductor bodies; Shapes, relative sizes or dispositions of semiconductor regions within semiconductor bodies
    • H10F77/143—Shape of semiconductor bodies; Shapes, relative sizes or dispositions of semiconductor regions within semiconductor bodies comprising quantum structures
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F77/00—Constructional details of devices covered by this subclass
    • H10F77/10—Semiconductor bodies
    • H10F77/14—Shape of semiconductor bodies; Shapes, relative sizes or dispositions of semiconductor regions within semiconductor bodies
    • H10F77/143—Shape of semiconductor bodies; Shapes, relative sizes or dispositions of semiconductor regions within semiconductor bodies comprising quantum structures
    • H10F77/1433—Quantum dots
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F77/00—Constructional details of devices covered by this subclass
    • H10F77/40—Optical elements or arrangements
    • H10F77/42—Optical elements or arrangements directly associated or integrated with photovoltaic cells, e.g. light-reflecting means or light-concentrating means
    • H10F77/48—Back surface reflectors [BSR]
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
    • Y02E10/52—PV systems with concentrators
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
    • Y02E10/544—Solar cells from Group III-V materials
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
    • Y02E10/548—Amorphous silicon PV cells
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
    • Y02P70/00—Climate change mitigation technologies in the production process for final industrial or consumer products
    • Y02P70/50—Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Nanotechnology (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Biophysics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
  • Photovoltaic Devices (AREA)

Abstract

A material structure and device design are provided that produce efficient photovoltaic power conversion. Materials of different energy gap are combined in the depletion region of a semiconductor junction. A wider energy gap barrier layer is positioned to reduce the diode dark current by suppressing both carrier injection across the junction and recombination rates within the junction. Light guiding layers are placed above and below the active region of the device in order to enhance optical absorption in the lower energy gap material.
PCT/US2011/020513 2010-01-08 2011-01-07 Quantum well waveguide solar cells and methods of constructing the same Ceased WO2011085196A2 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US29346910P 2010-01-08 2010-01-08
US61/293,469 2010-01-08
US98574811A 2011-01-06 2011-01-06
US12/985,748 2011-01-06

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2011085196A2 WO2011085196A2 (en) 2011-07-14
WO2011085196A3 true WO2011085196A3 (en) 2012-04-12

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US2011/020513 Ceased WO2011085196A2 (en) 2010-01-08 2011-01-07 Quantum well waveguide solar cells and methods of constructing the same

Country Status (1)

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WO (1) WO2011085196A2 (en)

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN109004042A (en) * 2017-06-07 2018-12-14 中国科学院物理研究所 Vertical-type opto-electronic device and its manufacturing method

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2009120983A2 (en) * 2008-03-27 2009-10-01 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Ultra-low reflectance broadband omni-directional anti-reflection coating

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2009120983A2 (en) * 2008-03-27 2009-10-01 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Ultra-low reflectance broadband omni-directional anti-reflection coating

Non-Patent Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
C. O. MCPHEETERS ET AL: "Improved performance of In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dot solar cells via light scattering by nanoparticles", JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, vol. 106, no. 5, 1 January 2009 (2009-01-01), pages 056101, XP055017857, ISSN: 0021-8979, DOI: 10.1063/1.3213366 *
CHENG Y ET AL: "Diffused quantum well solar cells", MICROELECTRONICS AND VLSI, 1995. TENCON '95., IEEE REGION 10 INTERNATI ONAL CONFERENCE ON HONG KONG 6-10 NOV. 1995, NEW YORK, NY, USA,IEEE, US, 6 November 1995 (1995-11-06), pages 81 - 84, XP010160051, ISBN: 978-0-7803-2624-8, DOI: 10.1109/TENCON.1995.496341 *
DERKACS D ET AL: "Nanoparticle-induced light scattering for improved performance of quantum-well solar cells", APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, AIP, AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS, MELVILLE, NY, US, vol. 93, no. 9, 3 September 2008 (2008-09-03), pages 91107 - 91107, XP012113729, ISSN: 0003-6951, DOI: 10.1063/1.2973988 *
J.-Q. XI ET AL: "Omnidirectional reflector using nanoporous SiO2 as a low-refractive-index material", OPTICS LETTERS, vol. 30, no. 12, 1 January 2005 (2005-01-01), pages 1518, XP055018329, ISSN: 0146-9592, DOI: 10.1364/OL.30.001518 *
OKADA Y ET AL: "Fabrication of potentially modulated multi-quantum well solar cells", CONFERENCE RECORD OF THE THIRTY-FIRST IEEE PHOTOVOLTAIC SPECIALIST CONFERENCE (IEEE CAT. NO. 05CH37608) IEEE PISCATAWAY, NJ, USA,, 3 January 2005 (2005-01-03), pages 591 - 594, XP010822778, ISBN: 978-0-7803-8707-2, DOI: 10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488200 *
T.V. TORCHYNSKA; G.P. POLUPAN: "III-V material solar cells for space application", SEMICONDUCTOR PHYSICS, QUANTUM ELECTRONICS & OPTOELECTRONICS, vol. 5, no. 1, 2002, pages 63 - 70, XP009156236 *
THOMAS N D TIBBITS ET AL: "Efficiency Enhancement of Single Junction GAAS Solar Cells using Strain-Balanced Quantum Well Structures Under Concentration", CONFERENCE RECORD OF THE 2006 IEEE 4TH WORLD CONFERENCE ON PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY CONVERSION (IEEE CAT. NO.06CH37747),, 1 May 2006 (2006-05-01), pages 861 - 864, XP031007442, ISBN: 978-1-4244-0016-4 *

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