THIN FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES AND METHODS OF MAKING THE SAME

摘要

A method of fabricating a thin film photovoltaic device comprises the steps of: configuring an n-type, wide band gap thin film window substrate layer of semiconductor material; on the substrate layer, depositing a thin film of an n-type semiconductor photon absorber compound from the set of compounds comprising: (i) Class II B element, of the Periodic Table of Elements, and Group VI element containing compounds; and (ii) Group III element and Group V element containing compounds; configuring a pre-defined model of the device being fabricated, in which, the photon absorber layer is affixed to a back metal contact, an n-n heterojunction is present within the device, a large Schottky barrier is required at the metal-photon absorber film interface and the photon absorber layer remains substantially n-type rather than undergoing type conversion from n-type to p-type; b. in accordance with the model, treating the photon absorber layer to specifically increase the n-type electrical conduction; c. affixing a back metal contact to the photon absorber layer; and treating the device to specifically create a large Schottky barrier at the interface between the metal contact and the photon absorber layer, The method is suitable for manufacturing high efficiency solar cells such as CdS/CdTe, GaN/GaAs or InN/InP based systems.