Patent Application
20190378951
The present invention relates to solar cells and/or optoelectronic devices manufactured by deposition of thin-films and more particularly to forming a modified surface of the absorber layer of optoelectronic devices comprising chalcogenide semiconductors or ABC semiconductive compounds.
Photovoltaic devices are generally understood as photovoltaic cells or photovoltaic modules. Photovoltaic modules ordinarily comprise arrays of interconnected photovoltaic cells.
A thin-film photovoltaic or optoelectronic device is ordinarily manufactured by depositing material layers onto a substrate. A thin-film photovoltaic device ordinarily comprises a substrate coated by a layer stack comprising a conductive layer stack, at least one absorber layer, optionally at least one buffer layer, and at least one transparent conductive layer stack.
The present invention is concerned with photovoltaic devices comprising an absorber layer generally based on an ABC chalcogenide material, such as an ABC.sub.2 chalcopyrite material, wherein A represents elements in group 11 of the periodic table of chemical elements as defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry including Cu or Ag, B represents elements in group 13 of the periodic table including In, Ga, or Al, and C represents elements in group 16 of the periodic table including S, Se, or Te. An example of an ABC.sub.2 material is the Cu(In,Ga)Se.sub.2 semiconductor also known as CIGS. The invention also concerns variations to the ordinary ternary ABC compositions, such as copper-indium-selenide or copper-gallium-selenide, in the form of quaternary, pentanary, or multinary materials such as compounds of copper-(indium, gallium)-(selenium, sulfur), copper-(indium, aluminium)-selenium, copper-(indium, aluminium)-(selenium, sulfur), copper-(zinc, tin)-selenium, copper-(zinc, tin)-(selenium, sulfur), (silver, copper)-(indium, gallium)-selenium, or (silver, copper)-(indium, gallium)-(selenium, sulfur).
The photovoltaic absorber layer of thin-film ABC or ABC.sub.2 photovoltaic devices can be manufactured using a variety of methods such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), spraying, sintering, sputtering, printing, ion beam, or electroplating. The most common method is based on vapor deposition or co-evaporation within a vacuum chamber ordinarily using multiple evaporation sources. Historically derived from alkali material diffusion using soda lime glass substrates, the effect of adding alkali metals to enhance the efficiency of thin-film ABC.sub.2 photovoltaic devices has been described in much prior art (Rudmann, D. (2004) Effects of sodium on growth and properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se.sub.2 thin films and solar cells, Doctoral dissertation, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2014 Apr. 30 from <URL: http://e-collection.ethbib.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:27376/eth-27376-02.-pdf>).
The present invention presents a method to form nanostructures, such as cavities, at the surface of a photovoltaic device's absorber layer by selectively dissolving alkali crystals embedded within the absorber's surface. The method advantageously uses the cavities to modify the absorber layer surface's chemical composition, enlarge developed total surface, enlarge developed surface adequate for receiving doping elements, and form point contacts with subsequently deposited thin-film layers.
The present invention exploits adding at least one alkali metal to a thin-film optoelectronic device, and especially to its absorber layer. A preferred at least one alkali metal comprises potassium. Adding at least one alkali metal modifies at least the absorber layer's chemical content. It may also modify the physical appearance of the surface of the absorber layer. Further treating of at least the surface of the absorber layer will modify its physical appearance to reveal nanostructures. Treating of absorber surface may for example be done with a bathing apparatus. The invention discloses independent control of separate alkali metals during adding to layers of the optoelectronic device, the treating of the absorber surface, and the resulting chemical and physical modifications to at least one absorber layer of the optoelectronic device. Effects of the invention on at least one of the device's thin-film layers include at least one of doping, passivation of absorber surface, interfaces, grain boundaries, and defects, elemental interdiffusion, forming of point contacts, forming of nanoholes, modification of layer roughness, optical characteristics, and optoelectronic characteristics such as enhanced open circuit voltage and fill factor. The invention's adding of at least one alkali metal and treating absorber surface enables manufacturing of a thinner optimal buffer layer. In some cases a person skilled in the art may advantageously omit manufacturing the buffer layer. This thinner optimal buffer layer results in reduced optical losses, thereby contributing to increase the device's photovoltaic conversion efficiency.
This invention presents a solution to the problem of manufacturing high efficiency thin-film photovoltaic or optoelectronic devices that comprise an ABC.sub.2 chalcopyrite absorber layer. The invention is also applicable to flexible photovoltaic devices with said absorber layer. It is also applicable to devices manufactured onto substrates, such as polyimide, that do not comprise within the substrate alkali metals known to augment photovoltaic conversion efficiency by diffusion into at least the absorber layer.
The invention presents photovoltaic (abbreviated PV) devices that comprise a proportionally large amount of potassium and describes the characteristics of said devices. The invention also presents a method for manufacturing said devices with the advantage of reduced optical losses, reduced carrier recombinations in the absorber and at the interfaces with the absorber, and therefore enhanced photovoltaic conversion efficiency. Although the method is applicable to production on glass, metal, or various coated substrates, the method is especially advantageous for the production of flexible photovoltaic devices based on polymer substrates. Devices manufactured according to said method have higher photovoltaic efficiency and possibly less unwanted material than equivalent devices manufactured using methods described in prior art.
A common problem in the field of thin-film (abbreviated TF) PV devices relates to doping of the photovoltaic absorber layer for increased efficiency. When manufactured onto glass substrates or possibly onto substrates coated with materials comprising alkali metals, the substrate's alkali metals may diffuse into the absorber layer and increase PV conversion efficiency. In the case of substrates, such as polyimide, that do not comprise alkali metals, the alkali-doping elements must be supplied via deposition techniques such as, for example, physical vapor deposition. Alkali metals may for example be supplied as a so-called post deposition treatment. The alkali metals diffuse during the deposition process within and across various TF layers and their interfaces.
Another problem in the field of TF PV devices concerned with doping relates to efficient doping of specific areas or specific zones along the thin-film's thickness of the semiconductive material.
A further problem in the field of TF PV devices concerned with doping relates to preparing the surface, for example relates to increasing the overall surface, made available for doping.
Yet a further problem in the field of TF PV devices relates to damage to the CIGS that may be caused by post-CIGS deposition treatments.
A problem in the field of TF PV devices is the occurrence of carrier recombination which results in loss of PV conversion efficiency.
Another problem in the field of TF PV devices lies at the interfaces between the absorber layer, the optional buffer layer, and the front-contact layer: semiconductive junction points that desirably interface as point contacts with high conductivity to the front-contact layer must be well distributed across the layer's surface. The areal density of said point contacts must be tuned to the thin-films' semiconductive properties.
A further problem in the field of TF PV devices is that for some buffer layer compositions, the thicker the buffer layer, the lower its optical transmittance and therefore the lower the PV device's conversion efficiency.
Yet a further problem in the field of TF PV devices is that some buffer layer compositions, such as CdS, comprise the element cadmium, the quantity of which it is desirable to minimize.
Another problem in the field of TF PV device manufacturing is that the process for deposition of the buffer layer, such as chemical bath deposition (CBD), may generate waste. In the case of CdS buffer layer deposition the waste requires special treatment and it is therefore desirable to minimize its amount.
Yet another problem in the field of flexible TF PV device manufacturing is that it is desirable to benefit from large process windows for material deposition, and more specifically in relation to this invention, the process window for the adding of alkali metals and subsequent deposition of at least one buffer layer.
Finally, a problem in the field of TF PV devices is that of the color of the device. This problem may be even more important in the context of assemblies of PV devices, such as large PV modules, where multiple devices are placed next to each other and a desired match between the color of devices is desired. This may be for example to manufacture assemblies of PV devices of uniform color. It may also be to manufacture PV assemblies where different colors among PV devices are used to design patterns, writings, or gradients.
Briefly, the invention thus pertains to a method of fabricating TF PV devices comprising at least one ABC.sub.2 chalcopyrite absorber layer, to adding at least one alkali metal, thereby forming alkali crystals embedded in the surface of the absorber layer, to selectively dissolving said alkali crystals, thereby leaving cavities at the surface of the absorber layer, and to treating the absorber layer surface. The resulting TF PV devices comprise at least one ABC.sub.2 chalcopyrite absorber layer that may be characterized as having at its surface a large density of cavities of nanoscopic scale.
For the purposes of the present invention, the term “adding” or “added” refers to the process in which chemical elements, in the form of individual or compound chemical elements, namely alkali metals and their so-called precursors, are being provided in the steps for fabricating the layer stack of an optoelectronic device for any of: [0023] forming a solid deposit where at least some of the provided chemical elements will diffuse into at least one layer of said layer stack, or [0024] simultaneously providing chemical elements to other chemical elements being deposited, thereby forming a layer that incorporates at least some of the provided chemical elements and the other elements, or [0025] depositing chemical elements onto a layer or layer stack, thereby contributing via diffusion at least some of the provided chemical elements to said layer or layer stack.
In greater detail, the method for fabricating thin-film optoelectronic devices comprises providing a substrate, forming a back-contact layer, forming at least one absorber layer, which absorber layer is made of an ABC chalcogenide material, including ABC chalcogenide material ternary, quaternary, pentanary, or multinary variations, wherein A represents elements of group 11 of the periodic table of chemical elements as defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry including Cu and Ag, B represents elements in group 13 of the periodic table including In, Ga, and Al, and C represents elements in group 16 of the periodic table including S, Se, and Te, adding at least one alkali metal, and forming at least one cavity at the surface of the absorber layer, wherein forming of said at least one cavity is by dissolving away from said surface of the absorber layer at least one crystal aggregate comprising at least one alkali crystal comprising at least one alkali metal.
In said method, the at least one alkali metal may comprise potassium. Furthermore, the method may comprise a step of aqueous wetting of at least the surface of the absorber layer with a diluted aqueous ammonia solution with a diluted ammonia molarity in the range from 0 to 20 M, preferably in the range from about 1 M to 10 M, more preferably in the range from about 2 M to 4 M. The method may comprise a step of treating the absorber layer surface by adding oxidation state +1/+2 elements to the surface of the absorber layer. At least one absorber layer may be Cu(In,Ga)Se.sub.2. The method may also comprise forming at least one front-contact layer. Furthermore, the reflectance of the thin-film optoelectronic device may be adjusted by adjusting the amount of at least one alkali metal in the step of adding at least one alkali metal. The substrate may be delivered between a delivery roll and a take-up roll of a roll-to-roll manufacturing apparatus.
The invention also pertains to a TF optoelectronic device obtainable by the described method, comprising: a thin-film optoelectronic device obtainable by the aforementioned method, comprising: a substrate; a back-contact layer; at least one absorber layer, which absorber layer is made of an ABC chalcogenide material, including ABC chalcogenide material quaternary, pentanary, or multinary variations, wherein A represents elements of group 11 of the periodic table of chemical elements as defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry including Cu and Ag, B represents elements in group 13 of the periodic table including In, Ga, and Al, and C represents elements in group 16 of the periodic table including S, Se, and Te; at least one alkali metal; and at least one cavity at the surface of the absorber layer; wherein the form of said at least one cavity is the result of dissolving away from said surface of the absorber layer at least one crystal aggregate comprising at least one alkali crystal comprising at least one alkali metal. In said device, the at least one alkali metal may comprise potassium. Also, the at least one alkali crystal may comprise a cubic crystal. Furthermore, the at least one alkali metal may comprise potassium and wherein a curve for counts of potassium in the device's sputter profiling graph comprises an upper peak of potassium within a depth ranging from the surface of the absorber layer to about 0.5 .mu.m into the absorber layer. Said upper peak of potassium may comprise a base, the width of which is in the range from about 0.1 .mu.m to 0.5 .mu.m, preferably from about 0.15 .mu.m to 0.3 .mu.m, more preferably about 0.2 .mu.m. Said upper peak of potassium may have a height that, measured from the number of counts above its base, is in the range from about 0.2 to 17 times, preferably from about 0.6 to 6 times, more preferably from about 1.1 to 2 times the number of counts from the point of minimum number of counts in potassium of the absorber layer to the number of counts at the base of said upper peak of potassium. Furthermore in the device, the at least one alkali metal may comprises potassium and the curve for the copper to selenium content in the device's energy dispersive X-ray line scan graph may comprise an extended region of low and about constant Cu/Se extending from the surface of the absorber layer into a portion of the depth of the absorber layer, said low and about constant region has a depth in the range from about 0.05 .mu.m to 0.5 .mu.m, preferably about 0.1 .mu.m to 0.4 .mu.m, more preferably about 0.2 .mu.m to 0.3 .mu.m. Also in the device, the at least one alkali metal may comprise potassium, comprise +1/+2 elements, and the X-ray photoelectron spectrometry curve may comprise a Cd 3d5/2 peak that is at least about 60% greater in height, preferably in the range of about 60% to 1000% greater in height, more preferably in the range of about 380% to 530% greater in height, than for the curve of a device wherein the at least one alkali metal does not comprise potassium. Furthermore, the surface of the absorber layer may comprises a plurality of cavities, said cavities covering a total relative projected area in the range from about 15% to 80%, preferably about 20% to 60%, more preferably about 25% to 45%. In greater detail, said cavities may have a mean cavity area in the range from about 0.1.times.10.sup.-15 m.sup.2 to about 0.8.times.10.sup.-15 m.sup.2, preferably from about 0.2.times.10.sup.-15 m.sup.2 to about 0.6.times.10.sup.-15 m.sup.2, more preferably from about 0.3.times.10.sup.-15 m.sup.2 to about 0.5.times.10.sup.-15 m.sup.2. At least one cavity may comprise cadmium. Said device may also comprise at least one front-contact layer.
A main advantage of the invention is that it may enable, in a single manufacturing step with reduced and more efficient consumption of chemical products, the fabrication of a photovoltaic device with modified CIGS layer surface by contributing the features of surface nanostructuring, reduced surface damage, doping, buried and discrete semiconductive junction formation, and formation of point contacts. The resulting device may also feature reduced or no cadmium content.
Advantages of the invention derive from a method of adding substantial amounts of alkali elements to the absorber layer, selectively dissolving alkali crystals at the surface of the absorber layer, and adding oxidation state +1 and/or +2 elements to the absorber layer. High efficiency PV devices resulting from the method may be advantageous, thanks to a thinner or an absence of buffer layer, over prior art devices where little or no alkali elements have been added. The method may also be advantageous over prior art devices where no nanocavities have been formed. An advantageous effect of the invention is that the optimal thickness for an optional buffer layer coating said absorber layer may be thinner than the optimal buffer layer needed for prior art PV devices with comparable PV efficiency. The invention may shorten the manufacturing process, reduce environmental impact of manufacturing and of the resulting device, and increase device PV conversion efficiency.
The invention's features may advantageously solve several problems in the field of TF PV devices manufacturing, and more specifically manufacturing of the absorber and buffer layer of such devices. The listed advantages should not be considered as necessary for use of the invention. For manufacturing of TF flexible PV devices manufactured to the present invention, the advantages obtainable over devices and their manufacturing according to prior art include: higher PV conversion efficiency, improved absorber doping, especially towards the part of the layer that is closest to the front-contact layer, absorber layer nanostructuring that improves dopant effect and contributes to the formation of point contacts with the front-contact layer, improved semiconductor junction that helps reduce carrier recombinations, reduced semiconductor bulk defects that help reduce carrier recombinations, thinner or omitted buffer layer, shorter buffer layer deposition time, enlarged buffer layer deposition process window, enlarged deposition process window for alkali metal doping elements, increase in open-circuit voltage resulting from a decrease in recombination-relevant surface, enlarged tuning window for (in, Ga) addition to the CIGS absorber layer, improved copper to cadmium interface resulting in lower cadmium content in device, facilitated growth of stoichiometric absorber material, more environmentally-friendly manufacturing process and devices, lower manufacturing costs, adjustment of PV device color and/or reflectance
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In simplified terms, the following description details a TF PV device and especially the surface of its absorber layer which comprises a plurality of cavities formed by selectively dissolving away alkali crystals embedded in the absorber's surface. The cavities result from the dissolution of individual crystals and/or aggregates of crystals. The shape of the cavities, or nanocavities, corresponds to the geometry of the dissolved alkali crystals and their size may range from a few to over a hundred nanometers. Although the shape of the cavities more generally derives from cubic or aggregates of cubic crystals, the shape may also be rectangular, tetragonal, pyramidal, and possibly circular, or elliptic. The shape of cavities is a function of step temperatures and step durations used in the manufacturing method. The surface of the absorber layer is also doped. The description also details the method to manufacture the TF PV device, parameters to grow the alkali crystals that are embedded into the surface of the absorber layer, how to selectively dissolve said crystals without damaging the absorber layer, and how to dope the surface of the absorber layer within the overall manufacturing process. In effect, by forming cavities, the method may increase the total surface available to dope the surface of the absorber layer and at the same time reduce the volume within the absorber layer where detrimental carrier recombination may occur.
The invention is applicable to substrates that may or substrates that may not diffuse alkali elements into thin-film layers. For example the method is applicable to potassium-nondiffusing substrates. A “potassium-nondiffusing substrate” is a component, ordinarily a sheet of material, that comprises no potassium or so little potassium that diffusion of potassium elements into the subsequently described layers is considered too small to significantly alter the optoelectronic properties of the device. Potassium-nondiffusing substrates also include substrates that comprise means to prevent diffusion of potassium into coatings or layers supported by the substrate. A potassium-nondiffusing substrate may for example be a substrate that has been specially treated or coated with a barrier layer to prevent diffusion of potassium elements into coatings or layers supported by the substrate. Specially treated substrates or barrier-coated substrates ordinarily prevent the diffusion of a broad range of elements, including alkali metals, into coatings or layers supported by the substrate.
For clarity, components in figures showing embodiments are not drawn at the same scale.
Substrate 110 may be rigid or flexible and be of a variety of materials or coated materials such as glass, coated metal, polymer-coated metal, polymer, coated polymer such as metal-coated polymer, or flexible glass. A preferred flexible substrate material is polyimide as it is very flexible, sustains temperatures required to manufacture high efficiency optoelectronic devices, requires less processing than metal substrates, and exhibits thermal expansion coefficients that are compatible with those of material layers deposited upon it. Industrially available polyimide substrates are ordinarily available in thicknesses ranging from 7 .mu.m to 150 .mu.m. Substrate 110 may be a potassium-nondiffusing substrate. Polyimide substrates are ordinarily considered as potassium-nondiffusing.
At least one electrically conductive layer 120 coats substrate 110. Said electrically conductive layer, or stack of electrically conductive layers, also known as the back-contact, may be of a variety of electrically conductive materials, preferably having a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that is close both to that of the said substrate 110 onto which it is deposited and to that of other materials that are to be subsequently deposited upon it. Conductive layer 120 preferably has a high optical reflectance and is commonly made of Mo although several other TF materials such as metal chalcogenides, molybdenum chalcogenides, molybdenum selenides (such as MoSe.sub.2), Na-doped Mo, K-doped Mo, Na- and K-doped Mo, transition metal chalcogenides, doped indium oxides, for example tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), non-doped indium oxides, doped or non-doped zinc oxides, zirconium nitrides, tin oxides, titanium nitrides, Ti, W, Ta, Au, Ag, Cu, and Nb may also be used or included advantageously.
At least one absorber layer 130 coats electrically conductive layer 120. Absorber layer 130 is made of an ABC material, wherein A represents elements in group 11 of the periodic table of chemical elements as defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry including Cu or Ag, B represents elements in group 13 of the periodic table including In, Ga, or Al, and C represents elements in group 16 of the periodic table including S, Se, or Te. An example of an ABC.sub.2 material is the Cu(In,Ga)Se.sub.2 semiconductor also known as CIGS.
Optionally, at least one semiconductive buffer layer 140 coats absorber layer 130. Said buffer layer ordinarily has an energy bandgap higher than 1.5 eV and is for example made of CdS, Cd(S,OH), CdZnS, indium sulfides, zinc sulfides, gallium selenides, indium selenides, compounds of (indium, gallium)-sulfur, compounds of (indium, gallium)-selenium, tin oxides, zinc oxides, Zn(Mg,O)S, Zn(O,S) material, or variations thereof.
At least one transparent conductive layer 150 coats buffer layer 140. Said transparent conductive layer, also known as the front-contact, ordinarily comprises a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer, for example made of doped or non-doped variations of materials such as indium oxides, tin oxides, or zinc oxides.
Contributing to this invention, the amount of potassium comprised in the interval of layers 370 from electrically conductive back-contact layer 120, exclusive, to transparent conductive front-contact layer 150, inclusive, is in the range between 500 and 10000 potassium atoms per million atoms (ppm). A TF PV device demonstrating superior PV conversion efficiency preferably has an amount of potassium comprised in said interval of layers 370 in the range between 1000 and 2000 potassium atoms per million atoms. For a device comprising at least two alkali metals, one of which is potassium, the amount of said at least one alkali metal other than potassium may be in the range of 5 to 5000 ppm. the amount of at least one alkali metal other than potassium is at most 1/2 and at least 1/2000 of the comprised amount of potassium.
Optionally, front-contact metallized grid patterns 160 may cover part of transparent conductive layer 150 to advantageously augment front-contact conductivity. Also optionally, said TF PV device may be coated with at least one anti-reflective coating such as a thin material layer or an encapsulating film.
An exemplary sequence of material layer deposition and treatment follows. The purpose of this description is to clarify the context within which treatment after deposition of the absorber layer, the main subject of this invention, occurs. Between any of the subsequent manufacturing steps, a person skilled in the art will know how to, as an option, temporarily store the unfinished product, for example within a vacuum or near vacuum container or even within a container characterized by a controlled atmospheric environment or possibly a container comprising at least one inert gas. Exposure to air and/or to humidity is known to have an effect on the chemical composition of the material layers deposited during the material deposition steps. A person skilled in the art will advantageously use steps of the method within a manufacturing sequence where exposure to air and/or humidity is kept to a minimum between steps. A person skilled in the art may also use steps of the method so that the intermediate product is only exposed to a controlled environment between steps, such as vacuum, near vacuum, low humidity atmosphere, or at least one inert gas. In case of exposure to air between steps that is different from air at standard ambient temperature and pressure (SATP) and 40% relative humidity (RH), a person skilled in the art will adapt the limits for said cumulated minutes in air according to changes in aforementioned environmental parameters. In the rest of this document, the word minutes is abbreviated as min.
The method starts at step 210 by providing a substrate. Said substrate may be a potassium-nondiffusing substrate.
Following step 210 and prior to the step of forming cavities 236, adding of at least one alkali metal 235 occurs as at least one event during and/or between any of steps comprised in the interval from step of providing substrate 210 (excluding the step 210 itself), to the step of forming cavities 236 (excluding the step 236 itself). Said at least one of said alkali metal preferably comprises potassium. The fact that the adding may occur during or between said interval of steps is represented by dashed arrows emanating from block 235 in
At step 220, forming at least one back-contact layer comprises depositing at least one electrically conductive layer. Forming of the back-contact layer may be done using a process such as sputtering, spraying, sintering, electrodeposition, CVD, PVD, electron beam evaporation, or spraying of the materials listed in the description of said electrically conductive layer 120.
At step 230, forming at least one absorber layer comprises coating said electrically conductive layer with at least one ABC absorber layer 130. The materials used correspond to those in the description provided for ABC absorber layer 130. Said absorber layer may be deposited using a variety of techniques such as sputtering, spraying, sintering, CVD, electrodeposition, printing, or as a preferred technique for an ABC material, physical vapor deposition. Substrate temperatures during absorber layer deposition are ordinarily comprised between 100.degree. C. and 650.degree. C. The range of temperatures and temperature change profiles depend on several parameters including at least the substrate's material properties, the supply rates of the materials that compose the ABC material, and the type of coating process. For example, for a vapor deposition process, substrate temperatures during forming of the absorber layer will ordinarily be below 600.degree. C., and if using substrates requiring lower temperatures, such as a polyimide substrate, preferably below 500.degree. C., and more preferably in the range from 100.degree. C. to 500.degree. C. For a co-evaporation vapor deposition process, substrate temperatures during forming of the absorber layer will ordinarily be in the range from 100.degree. C. to 500.degree. C. Said substrate temperatures may be advantageously used with a polyimide substrate.
For a deposition process such as physical vapor deposition, for example if forming absorber layer 230 is done using a physical vapor deposition process, adding of potassium as part of adding at least one alkali metal 235 may be done during and/or in continuation of the physical vapor deposition process by supplying potassium fluoride, KF. This may, for example, be advantageous when manufacturing with a co-evaporation physical vapor deposition system. Adding the alkali metal potassium will preferably be done in the presence of a flux of element Se supplied at a rate in the range of 5 to 100 .ANG./s, preferably at a rate in the range of 20 to 50 .ANG./s.
Substrate temperature ranges for said adding of at least one alkali metal are from 100.degree. C. to 700.degree. C., preferably from 250.degree. C. to 450.degree. C., more preferably from 330.degree. C. to 370.degree. C. A person skilled in the art will select appropriate temperatures for said adding of at least one alkali metal so that they are compatible with the materials deposited, TF properties, and substrate. For example, one skilled in the art of physical vapor deposition processes will know that potassium, for example in the form of KF, may be added at higher temperatures than some other alkali metals such as sodium, for example in the form of NaF. The possibility of higher adding temperature for KF may advantageously be used to add alkali metals starting with potassium at temperatures closer to those used at step 230 and, as the substrate temperature decreases, to continue with adding of same and/or other alkali metals. For example, adding of at least one alkali metal may be with a physical vapor deposition process where alkali metal potassium, for example in the form of a KF potassium-comprising precursor, is supplied at a rate equivalent to an effective layer deposition of about 1 nm/min to 2 nm/min for a duration of 20 minutes. For another example, adding of at least one alkali metal preferably uses a physical vapor deposition process where sodium, for example in the form of NaF sodium-comprising precursor, is first added at a rate of about 1 nm/min to 2 nm/min for a duration of 20 minutes and followed, possibly as part of a co-evaporation process, by adding of potassium, for example in the form of a KF potassium-comprising precursor, at a rate of about 1 nm/min to 2 nm/min for a duration of 20 minutes. A person skilled in the art may adapt deposition rate and duration. The skilled person will also know that adding of at least one alkali metal may take place with adding of one or more of said at least one alkali metal at substrate temperatures ordinarily lower than 700.degree. C. and possibly much lower than 350.degree. C., such as at ambient temperatures of about 25.degree. C. and below. The substrate may then be heated afterwards, thereby facilitating diffusing of said alkali metals to the TF layers of the optoelectronic device, possibly in combination with depositing at least one C element. Adding at least one alkali metal 235 is preferably done in the presence of Se.
The amount of potassium added by adding at least one alkali metal 235 is such that following forming of front-contact layer 150 at later step 250, said amount comprised in the interval of layers 370 from back-contact layer 120, exclusive, to front-contact layer 150, inclusive, is in the range between 500 and 10000 potassium atoms per million atoms and the amount of the other of said at least one alkali metal is in the range of 5 to 5000 ppm and at most 1/2 and at least 1/2000 of the comprised amount of potassium. A TF PV device that has a superior PV conversion efficiency preferably has an amount comprised in said interval of layers 370 from about 1000 to 2000 potassium atoms per million atoms.
Also, adding some of at least one alkali metal preferably occurs after forming the last of at least one absorber layer 230 and before at least one of step of forming cavities 236. The latter adding some of at least one alkali metal preferably comprises an alkali compound that comprises potassium. Said alkali compound may comprise any of an alkali metal, an alkali halide, or an alkali salt.
At step 236, that of forming cavities, at least the surface of absorber layer 130 is subject to at least one of the steps of aqueous wetting 237, treating absorber surface 238, and forming buffer layer 240. At step 236 at least one, preferably a plurality, of alkali crystals embedded within the surface of the absorber layer is dissolved. Part of the absorber layer material directly underlying at least one of said alkali crystal may also be dissolved, said part will ordinarily not extend deeper into the absorber than one height unit corresponding to the depth of the crystal embedded into the absorber layer. Also, part of the surface of the absorber layer directly in contact with said alkali crystals may be dissolved. Furthermore, part of the surface of the absorber layer may also be dissolved.
At optional step 237, represented as a dashed box because the step may be considered optional, aqueous wetting comprises wetting at least the surface of absorber layer 130 with at least one aqueous wetting. Aqueous wetting will preferably be done in a bath. Aqueous wetting may also be done using spraying. Aqueous wetting is preferably with a diluted aqueous ammonia solution. Exposure to air is known to have an effect on the chemical composition of the absorber layer. A person skilled in the art will try to minimize the duration of exposure of the device to air. Although the duration of exposure may be of several days, aqueous wetting preferably occurs after the substrate has spent a duration of at most 10, more preferably less than 5, cumulated minutes in air at SATP and 40% RH after completion of the forming absorber layer step 230. Described briefly, composition of the preferred diluted aqueous ammonia solution bath is an aqueous solution with a molarity in the range from 3 M to 5 M. Said diluted aqueous ammonia solution comprises a mixture of water and commercially available ammonia aqueous solution. Parameters relevant to the aqueous wetting step comprising a bath comprise a cumulated duration of about 10 min, preferably, about 2 min, a bath temperature of about 25.degree. C. and a molarity of about 3 mol/L (also written M). Ranges, preferred ranges, and most preferred ranges for said parameters are presented in Table 1. Most preferred ranges are at least applicable using a bath. A person skilled in the art will readily adapt parameters to other types of wetting apparatuses.
Wetting steps may take place in a chemical bath deposition (CBD) apparatus and/or a spraying apparatus. A chemical bath deposition system ensures continuous flow and mixing of the bathing solution over at least absorber layer 130.
At steps treating absorber surface 238 and/or forming buffer layer 240, so-called “oxidation state +1” and/or so-called “oxidation state +2” elements, thereafter abbreviated +1/+2 elements, are added to the absorber layer 130 and especially to the surface of the absorber layer. Adding of oxidation state +1/+2 elements to the surface of the absorber layer transforms at least at portion of the surface from a p-type absorber surface into an n-type absorber surface, thereby forming a buried junction at least a portion of the absorber layer. Said buried junction may be a homojunction. Said buried junction is preferably a p-n junction. Resulting presence of oxidation state +1/+2 elements into the absorber layer may then, for example, be the result of physisorption, chemisorption, or diffusion. Said oxidation state +1/+2 elements comprise at least one element of at least one of group 2, group 3, lanthanide series, actinide series, or transition metals from the periodic table of elements. A commonly used oxidation state +1/+2 element is cadmium. Although this description focuses mostly on solutions comprising cadmium, a person skilled in the art may adapt the invention to use steps that comprise other or additional oxidation state +1/+2 elements. For example, a person skilled in the art may want to reduce or eliminate the amount of cadmium comprised in the resulting PV device by replacing part or all of the cadmium used in the method with at least one other oxidation state +1/+2 element.
At step 238, represented as a dashed box because the step may be considered optional, at least absorber layer 130 is subject to at least one treating absorber surface 238. The step of treating absorber layer 238 is especially useful if the step of forming buffer layer 240 is omitted. The duration of exposure to air between aqueous wetting 237 and treating absorber surface 238 is preferably at most 2, preferably less than 0.5, cumulated minutes in air at aforementioned SATP and RH of step 237. Described briefly, relevant parameters for treating absorber surface comprise treating for a cumulated duration of about 22 minutes at least absorber layer 130 into a solution with temperature of about 70.degree. C. comprising, per liter of water, an amount of about 60 mL of cadmium (Cd) solution and an amount of about 140 mL of ammonia (NH.sub.3) solution. Ranges for said parameters are presented in Table 1. Said water is preferably distilled water or deionized water, more preferably ultra-pure water with a resistivity of about 18 M.OMEGA.cm. Said cadmium solution comprises a Cd salt solution with a molarity most preferably in the range from about 0.026 to 0.03 mol/L. Concentration of said ammonia solution is more preferably in the range from 14.3 to 14.7 M. Ranges, preferred ranges, and most preferred ranges for said parameters are presented in Table 1. Most preferred ranges are at least applicable using a bathing apparatus.
At optional step 240, represented as a dashed box because the step may be considered optional, forming buffer layer comprises coating said absorber layer with at least one so-called semiconductive buffer layer 140. The materials used correspond to those in the description provided for buffer layer 140. Said buffer layer may be deposited using a variety of techniques such as CVD, PVD, sputtering, sintering, electrodeposition, printing, atomic layer deposition, or as a well known technique at atmospheric pressure, chemical bath deposition (CBD). To form a cadmium sulfide buffer layer, a person skilled in the art may form at least one buffer layer bath for CBD comprising a Cd salt aqueous solution of about 0.028 M concentration and an ammonia solution of about 14.5 M concentration that are first mixed together with water, preferably high-purity water (18 M.OMEGA.cm), in a volume ratio of about 3:7:37, preheated to about 70.degree. C. for about 2 min, and then supplemented with a thiourea aqueous solution of about 0.374 M concentration. At least absorber layer 130 is then immersed within said buffer layer bath that is maintained to a temperature of about 70.degree. C. until the desired buffer layer thickness is obtained. At least absorber layer 130 is then washed with water, preferably high-purity water.
Following at least one step of forming cavities 236, a person skilled in the art will notice, for example using TF analysis techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS) or secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), that the surface of the absorber layer comprises more oxidation state +1/+2 elements than the surface of absorber layers manufactured according to prior art or, for an analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), that the concentration of the +1/+2 elements in the absorber layer is higher than in absorber layers manufactured according to prior art.
For example, for devices where the oxidation state +1/+2 element(s) added at the step of forming cavities 236 is cadmium, an ICP-MS analysis of the resulting device after forming cavities is summarized in Table 2. Here, adding at least one alkali metal 235 is provided by evaporating material comprising potassium fluoride (KF) to add potassium to the absorber layer 130. Three devices are compared: a first device where no potassium is added, a second, best mode device, subjected to about 20 minutes of evaporation, and a third device subjected to about 60 minutes of evaporation. The evaporation rates are those mentioned previously. Evaporations flux rates and corresponding evaporation durations will be adapted by the person skilled in the art. A person skilled in the art may therefore advantageously use a manufacturing method where adjusting the amount of adding at least one alkali metal 235, or for a more specific example, adding potassium, contributes to regulating the amount of oxidation state +1/+2 elements that are added to or absorbed by the absorber layer. Said method of adding at least one alkali metal 235 may also contribute to adjusting the duration of the step of forming cavities 236 or steps therein 237, 238, 240.
Steps 238 and/or 240 are preferably done in at least one bathing apparatus. However, a person skilled in the art will readily adapt the method for use with a spraying apparatus. It is also possible to use physical vapor deposition (PVD) apparatuses and a plurality of associated deposition methods, the most common being evaporative deposition or sputter deposition. A person skilled in the art will readily manufacture a set of devices covering a range of parameters, for example a range of durations for at least one of steps 237, 238, 240, 244, 246, so as to obtain a photovoltaic device where, for example, photovoltaic efficiency is maximized. Other objectives may be, for example, to minimize buffer layer thickness, maximize efficiency to buffer layer thickness ratio, or maximize efficiency to cadmium content ratio.
At optional step 242 at least absorber layer 130 is subject to at least one short drying step. The short drying step may be done in air, preferably using a blown inert gas, more preferably using at least one ionization blow off nozzle, even more preferably with the blown inert gas being nitrogen.
At optional step 244 at least absorber layer 130 is subject to at least one annealing step. For a cadmium sulfide buffer layer, said annealing step is preferably done at about 180.degree. C., preferably in air for about 2 min. For a zinc oxi-sulfide buffer layer, said annealing step is preferably done at about 200.degree. C., preferably in air for about 10 min.
At optional step 246, at least absorber layer 130 is subject to at least one degassing step. This step is ordinarily not needed for devices where the substrate does not absorb humidity, for example glass or metal substrates. Said degassing is preferably done in vacuum. The degassing step is preferred for substrate materials, for example polyimide, that may have absorbed humidity at previous manufacturing steps. For example, for a degassing temperature of about 25.degree. C., an effective degassing duration is about 35 hours.
Parameter ranges for steps 237 to 246 are provided in Table 1. To tune the optional process of forming the buffer layer of step 240, one skilled in the art will ordinarily develop a test suite over a range of buffer coating process durations to manufacture a range of PV devices comprising a range of buffer layer thicknesses. One will then select the buffer coating process duration that results in highest PV device efficiency.
The following steps describe how to complete the manufacture of a working PV device benefiting of the invention.
At step 250, forming front-contact layer comprises coating said buffer layer with at least one transparent conductive front-contact layer 150. Said front-contact layer ordinarily comprises a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer, for example made of doped or non-doped variations of materials such as indium oxide, gallium oxide, tin oxide, or zinc oxide that may be coated using a variety of techniques such as PVD, CVD, sputtering, spraying, CBD, electrodeposition, or atomic layer deposition.
At optional step 260, forming front-contact grid comprises depositing front-contact metallized grid traces 160 onto part of transparent conductive layer 150. Also optionally, said TF PV device may be coated with at least one anti-reflective coating such as a thin material layer or an encapsulating film.
The steps may also comprise operations to delineate cell or module components. Delineation ordinarily comprises cutting grooves into back-contact layer 120 to provide electrically separate back-contact components. A second delineation step comprises cutting grooves, segments, or holes into at least absorber layer 130. The second delineation step may also comprise cutting into at least one of front-contact layer 150, buffer layer 140, or back-contact layer 120. A third delineation step comprises cutting grooves into at least front-contact layer 150. The second and third delineation step may be made simultaneously. Delineation, also called patterning, is preferably done using at least one laser.
Measurements of XPS intensity (in arbitrary units) as a function of binding energy (in eV) for 3 types of devices are presented: devices where the step of adding at least one alkali metal 235 is not performed (abbreviated Alk0), devices where said step only comprises sodium alkali metals (abbreviated AlkNa), and devices where said step comprises sodium and potassium alkali metals (abbreviated AlkNaK). Following the step of forming absorber layer 230 and, where applicable, the step of adding at least one alkali metal 235, the device was subject to the step of forming cavities 236 comprising the step of treating absorber surface 238. Although results presented in
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A person skilled in the art wishing to evaluate results derived from an apparatus manufactured according to the method, or wishing to compare image analysis software may, for calibration purposes, use the image of
From Watershed image segmentation on a range of samples manufactured according to the present invention, a person skilled in the art may specify ranges that characterize the surface of absorber layer 130 following at least one of bathing in diluted ammonia 237 or treating absorber surface 238.
Although the step of forming a front-contact layer 250, 150, and especially the thickness of said layer has an effect on the reflectance and color of a device, a person skilled in the art may wish to adjust the amount and composition of alkali metals in the step of adding at least one alkali metal 235 so as to contribute to the design of the device's optical properties or to the selection of a color for the PV device after the step of forming front-contact layer 250 has been completed. One may therefore devise a method of selecting the color of a PV device and/or its reflectance by adjusting the amount and/or composition of the at least one alkali metal in the step of adding the at least one alkali metal.
For example, the system for forming at least one absorber layer and adding at least one alkali metal 810 comprises means 820 for providing a substrate 110 with a back-contact layer coating 120. For a roll-to-roll system, said means 820 for providing a substrate 814 may be a payout reel 820. Said system coats the back-contact layer coating side of said substrate with at least one absorber layer 130 made of an ABC chalcogenide material, including ABC chalcogenide material quaternary, pentanary, or multinary variations, wherein A represents elements of group 11 of the periodic table of chemical elements as defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry including Cu and Ag, B represents elements in group 13 of the periodic table including In, Ga, and Al, and C represents elements in group 16 of the periodic table including S, Se, and Te. Said substrate may for example be coated by a plurality of evaporation sources 831s providing material to the substrate via evaporation plumes 831p. Said plumes may overlap on the surface of the substrate. Said evaporation sources may be arranged in blocks 830, 835, wherein, for example, a first block 830 dispenses material for the step of forming the absorption layer 130, 230 and a second block 835 dispenses material for adding at least one alkali metal 235 as the substrate moves in direction 815 over said sources. Said substrate may pass through a plurality of rollers 825, such as tensioning rollers, and be collected by a take-up reel 822.
The system for forming cavities 850 comprises, for example, a payout reel 820 for providing a substrate 854 comprising an absorber layer 130. Said system comprises means for forming cavities. The system may for example comprise at least one wetting or bathing device 855 for at least one of the steps of forming cavities 236, namely aqueous wetting 237, treating absorber layer surface 238, or forming a buffer layer 240. An advantageous solution may be for the system to comprise a plurality of wetting devices 855, for example waterfall wetting devices, showering devices, spraying devices, humidifying devices, or bathing devices, thereby enabling a plurality of steps for forming cavities within the same system. A person skilled in the art may also devise an apparatus where the substrate continuously transfers, for example without intermediate take-up reels, from a first system to a second system.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2014/061651 | May 2014 | IB | international |
This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/144,636, filed Sep. 27, 2018, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/312,718, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,109,761, filed Nov. 21, 2016, which is a 371 U.S. National Stage of International Application Number PCT/162015/053736, filed May 21, 2015, which claims priority to International Application Number PCT/162014/061651, filed May 23, 2014, the disclosures of which are all herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15312718 | Nov 2016 | US |
| Child | 16144636 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16144636 | Sep 2018 | US |
| Child | 16547443 | US |
