Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fuer Materialien und Energie GmbH Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20140213044 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING PERIODIC CRYSTALLINE SILICON NANOSTRUCTURES - A method for producing periodic crystalline silicon nanostructures of large surface area by: generating a periodic structure having a lattice constant of between 100 nm and 2 μm on a substrate, the substrate used being a material which is stable at up to at least 570° C., and the structure being produced with periodically repeating shallow and steep areas/flanks, and, subsequently, depositing silicon by directed deposition onto the periodically structured substrate, with a thickness in the range from 0.2 to 3 times the lattice constant, or 40 nm to 6 μm, at a substrate temperature of up to 400° C., followed by thermally treating the deposited Si layer to effect solid-phase crystallization, at temperatures between 570° C. and 1400° C., over a few minutes up to several days, and optionally subsequently wet-chemically selective etching to remove resultant porous regions of the Si layer. | 07-31-2014 |
20120073647 | SOLAR CELL COMPRISING NEIGHBORING ELECTRICALLY INSULATING PASSIVATION REGIONS HAVING HIGH SURFACE CHARGES OF OPPOSING POLARITIES AND PRODUCTION METHOD - A solar cell includes a photoactive, semiconductive absorber layer configured to generate excess charge carriers of opposed polarity by light incident on a front of the absorber layer during operation. The absorber layer is configured to separate and move, via at least one electric field formed in the absorber layer, the photogenerated excess charge carriers of opposed polarity over a minimal effective diffusion length L | 03-29-2012 |
20110308599 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A WAFER-BASED, REAR-CONTACTED HETERO SOLAR CELLS AND HETERO SOLAR CELL PRODUCED BY THE METHOD - A method for the production of a wafer-based, back-contacted heterojunction solar cell includes providing at least one absorber wafer. Metallic contacts are deposited as at least one of point contacts and strip contacts in a predetermined distribution on a back side of the at least one absorber wafer. The contacts have steep flanks that are higher than a cumulative layer thickness of an emitter layer and an emitter contact layer and are sheathed with an insulating sheath. The emitter layer is deposited over an entire surface of the back side of the at least one absorber wafer. The emitter contact layer is deposited over an entire surface of the emitter layer so as to form an emitter contact system. At least one of the emitter layer and the emitter contact layer is selectively removed so as to expose the steep flanks of the contacts that are covered with the insulating sheath. An insulation layer is deposited over an entire surface of the emitter contact layer so as to provide a narrow contact web at an edge of the at least one absorber wafer. End areas of the steep flanks of the contacts that are covered by the insulation layer are exposed. At least one of an absorber contact layer and an absorber contact grid is deposited over an entire surface of the insulation layer and over the exposed end areas of the steep flanks so as to form the absorber contact system, so as to provide the heterojunction solar cell with the contact web and with the at least one of an absorber contact layer and an absorber contact grid of the absorber contact system. | 12-22-2011 |
20110126886 | THIN-FILM SOLAR MODULE WHICH IS CONTACT-CONNECTED ON ONE SIDE AND HAS AN INTERNAL CONTACT LAYER - A thin-film solar module contacted on one side includes a support layer, a photoactive absorber layer and at least one dopant layer deposited over a surface area of at least one side of the absorber layer so as to form a thin-film packet that is divided into thin-film solar cell areas by insulating separating trenches. The thin-film solar module includes first and second contact systems. The first contact system includes contacts connected by an outer contact layer. The second contact system consists of an inner contact layer covering a side of the solar cell areas that face away from the support layer so as to separately discharge excess charge carriers generated by incident light in the absorber layer. The second contact system includes structures that surround and electrically insulate the contacts, which extend through the inner contact layer from the outer contact layer. The first and second contact systems are electrically conductive and connected in series by series contacts in interconnection areas and electrically insulated from each other by an insulation layer outside of the interconnection areas. | 06-02-2011 |
20110104876 | ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION METHOD FOR PRODUCING A N-SEMICONDUCTIVE METAL SULFIDE THIN LAYER - An atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition method for producing an N-type semiconductive metal sulfide thin film on a heated substrate includes converting an indium-containing precursor to at least one of a liquid phase and a gaseous phase. The indium-containing precursor is mixed with an inert carrier gas stream and hydrogen sulfide in a mixing zone so as to form a mixed precursor. A substrate is heated to a temperature in a range of 100° C. to 275° C. and the mixed precursor is directed onto the substrate. The hydrogen sulfide is supplied at a rate so as to obtain an absolute concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the mixing zone of no more than 1% by volume. The In-concentration of the indium containing precursor is selected so as to produce a compact indium sulfide film. | 05-05-2011 |
20110081734 | METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR PRODUCING AN N-SEMICONDUCTIVE INDIUM SULFIDE THIN LAYER - A method of producing, at atmospheric pressure, an n-type semiconductive indium sulfide thin film on a substrate using an indium-containing precursor, hydrogen sulfide as a reactive gaseous precursor, and an inert carrier gas stream includes cyclically repeating first and second steps so as to produce an indium sulfide thin film of a desired thickness. The first method phase includes converting the indium-containing precursor to at least one of a dissolved and a gaseous phase, heating the substrate to a temperature in a range of 100° C. to 275° C., directing the indium containing precursor onto the substrate and supplying hydrogen sulfide to the indium-containing precursor in a mixing zone in an amount so as to provide an absolute concentration of hydrogen sulfide that is greater than zero and no greater than 1% by volume. The indium concentration of the indium-containing precursor is set so as to produce a compact In(OH | 04-07-2011 |
20100291714 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE IN-SITU DETERMINATION OF THE MATERIAL COMPOSITION OF OPTICALLY THIN LAYERS - A system and method for in situ determination of a material composition of optically thin layers deposited from a vapor phase onto a substrate includes irradiating the substrate with incoherent light of at least three different wavelengths, optically detecting in a spatially resolved manner a reflection intensity of a diffuse or a direct light scattering emanating from a deposited layer outside of a total reflection, concurrently providing numerical values of the detected reflection intensity to an optical layer model based on general line transmission theory, ascertaining values for the optical layer parameters of the deposited layer from the optical layer model for the at least three different wavelengths by numerically adapting the optical layer model to a time characteristic of the detected reflection intensities, and quantitatively determining a material composition of the deposited layer from the ascertained values by comparing the ascertained values to standard values. | 11-18-2010 |
20100108986 | METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF QUANTUM DOTS EMBEDDED IN A MATRIX, AND QUANTUM DOTS EMBEDDED IN A MATRIX PRODUCED USING THE METHOD - A method for producing quantum dots embedded in a matrix on a substrate includes the steps of: depositing a precursor on the substrate, the precursor including at least one first metal or a metal compound; contacting the deposited precursor and uncovered areas of the substrate with a gas-phase reagent including at least one second metal and/or a chalcogen; and initiating a chemical reaction between the precursor and the reagent by raising a temperature thereof simultaneously with or subsequent to the contacting so that the matrix consists exclusively of elements of the reagent. | 05-06-2010 |
20100065418 | REACTIVE MAGNETRON SPUTTERING FOR THE LARGE-SCALE DEPOSITION OF CHALCOPYRITE ABSORBER LAYERS FOR THIN LAYER SOLAR CELLS - A method of reactive magnetron sputtering for large-area deposition of a chalcopyrite absorber layer for thin-film solar cells on a substrate, using at least one magnetron sputter source with at least one copper target, and using an inert gas and a chalcogen-containing reactive gas in a magnetron plasma, includes introducing the chalcogen-containing reactive gas directly at the substrate. The chalcogen-containing reactive gas fraction is set at 5 to 30% of the inert gas fraction in the magnetron plasma. A sputtering pressure of between 1 and 2 Pa, is set. A negative bias voltage is applied to the substrate. The magnetron plasma is excited by rapid frequency AC voltage above 6 MHz. The substrate is heated to a temperature between 350° C. and 500° C. Low-copper deposition is performed by disposing different targets serially in the at least one magnetron sputter source and operating the targets at the same sputtering power, or by disposing same targets in the at least one magnetron sputter source and operating the targets at different sputtering powers so as to obtain stoichiometry gradients. | 03-18-2010 |
20090266401 | SINGLE-SIDED CONTACT SOLAR CELL WITH PLATED- THROUGH HOLES AND METHOD FOR ITS PRODUCTION - In an embodiment of the present invention, a single-sided contact solar cell includes an absorber layer with plated-through holes; an emitter layer disposed on a first side of the absorber layer, the emitter layer including one or more semiconductor materials having different dopants; a field passivation layer disposed on a second side of the absorber layer; a contact grid covered on a top surface thereof with an insulation layer and electrically connected to a first end of the plated-through holes; and a contact layer. The contact grid and contact layer are disposed together on one side of the absorber layer and insulated with respect to each other and electrically contacted from outside of the solar cell. The contact grid is disposed between the absorber layer and the emitter layer or the field passivation layer, and the contact layer is disposed on the emitter layer or on the field passivation layer so that both the contact grid and contact layer are disposed on a top surface of the solar cell. The emitter layer or the field passivation layer is electrically connected to a second end of the plated-through holes. Where the second end of the plated-through holes is electrically connected to the emitter layer, the absorber layer and the contact grid are electrically insulated from each other. | 10-29-2009 |