Patent Application
20120167961
The invention relates to a transparent substrate, especially made of glass, which is provided with an electrode. This conductive substrate is most particularly intended to form part of solar cells.
It is known in fact that solar cells incorporate this type of conductive substrate, which is then coated with a layer of absorbent, generally made of a chalcopyrite based on copper Cu, indium In and selenium Se and/or sulfur S. It may, for example be a material of the CulnSe2 type. This type of material is known by the abbreviation CIS.
For this type of application, the electrodes are usually based on molybdenum Mo, as this material has a number of advantages: it is a good electrical conductor (relatively low specific resistance of about 5.2 mW·cm); it may be subjected to the necessary high heat treatments, as it has a high melting point (2,610° C.); and it exhibits good resistance, to a certain extent, to selenium and to sulfur. The deposition of the absorbent layer usually means that there must be contact with an atmosphere containing selenium or sulfur, which tends to cause most metals to deteriorate. In contrast, molybdenum reacts on the surface with selenium especially, forming MoSe2. However, it keeps most of its properties, especially electrical properties, and maintains a suitable electrical contact with the CIS layer. Finally, molybdenum is a material which adheres well to the CIS layers—it even tends to promote their crystalline growth thereof.
However, it has a major drawback when considering industrial production—it is an expensive material. This is because the Mo layers are usually deposited by sputtering (enhanced by a magnetic field). Now, Mo targets are expensive. This is all the less negligible as, in order to obtain the desired level of electrical conductivity (a resistance per square of less than 2, and preferably less than 1 or 0.5 ohms:square Ω□ after treatment in an atmosphere containing S or Se), a thick Mo layer, generally of about 700 nm to 1 micrometer, is required.
The object of the invention is therefore to obtain a substrate provided with an electrode intended for solar cells, which is simpler to manufacture and/or less expensive than the known Mo electrodes, but whose performance, especially electrical performance, is equivalent or at the very least sufficient for the envisaged application.
The subject of the invention is firstly a transparent substrate, especially made of glass, which is provided with an electrode, especially one suitable for solar cells, and which comprises a conductive layer based on molybdenum Mo of at most 500 nm, especially at most 400 or at most 300 or at most 200 nm. Preferably, it has a thickness of at least 20 nm or at least 50 or 80 or 100 nm.
The subject of the invention is firstly a transparent substrate, especially made of glass, which is provided with an electrode, especially one suitable for solar cells, and which comprises a conductive layer based on molybdenum Mo of at most 500 nm, especially at most 400 or at most 300 or at most 200 nm. Preferably, it has a thickness of at least 20 nm or at least 50 or 80 or 100 nm.
Within the context of the invention, the term “layer” is understood to mean either a continuous layer or a discontinuous layer having, in particular, patterns (either by etching of a continuous layer or by direct deposition of the discontinuous layer with the desired pattern, or by a mask system for example). This applies to all the layers involved in the present application.
The approach of the invention did not consist in completely eliminating molybdenum in favor of another metal, as no metal was deemed to be sufficiently resistant, especially when in contact with selenium or sulfur, and during the abovementioned heat treatments, without major degradation (the problem of possible degradation of the Mo has in the same way an impact on the absorbent layer which covers it). However, the approach has been to reduce significantly the molybdenum thickness: it has turned out, against all expectations, that thicknesses much less than those normally used—much less than 1 micrometer—are quite sufficient to obtain the desired electrical properties with, as a consequence, an appreciable saving in terms of raw materials cost. Decreasing the thickness of the molybdenum layer has another advantage: it has turned out that it is possible for these relatively thin layers to be deposited by sputtering with deposition parameters resulting in highly stressed layers without the problems of delamination that may arise in this particular case with thick layers. Thinner layers also tend to have fewer defects known as pinholes.
To ensure that thinner molybdenum layers maintain their effectiveness, the invention preferably lends itself to several variants (which remain, however, optional) used as alternatives or in combination.
According to a first variant, a layer called a barrier layer is advantageously inserted between the substrate and the electrode. Its main function is to form a barrier to the migration of diffusing species out of the substrate into the electrode and as far as the absorbent layer (and possibly, reciprocally, of diffusing species from the electrode into the substrate). When the substrate is made of glass, the species liable to diffuse out of the glass and degrade the electrode and the absorbent layer are especially alkali metals. By providing such a barrier layer, it is possible to use as substrate a standard silica-soda-lime glass obtained by the float process, without any risk of the electrode or the absorbent layer made of chalcopyrite deteriorating. Within the context of the invention, this is all the more important the thinner the molybdenum layer since any degradation even over a small thickness would have a greater impact than in the case of a much thicker layer.
Advantageously, this barrier layer is based on a dielectric material chosen from at least one of the following compounds: silicon nitride or oxynitride, aluminum nitride or oxynitride, silicon oxide or oxynitride. Silicon nitride (possibly containing a minority metal of the Al or boron type) has proved to be particularly effective. This is a very inert material, which is practically insensitive to the heat treatments and provides a satisfactory barrier to the diffusion of alkali metals.
Preferably, the barrier layer has a thickness of at least 20 nm, especially at least 100 or 120 or 150 nm, and a thickness of at most 300 nm, especially at most 250 or 200 nm.
According to a second variant, it may be desirable to “compensate” for the reduction in thickness of the Mo layer in order to obtain an electrode which, overall, is as conductive if not more conductive than a thick Mo layer. The solution according to the invention consists in adding, in the electrode, to the Mo-based layer at least one other conductive layer of a different kind. Advantageously, this “complementary” conductive layer(s) is(are) chosen to be made of materials which are less expensive to deposit (by sputtering) as a thin layer than molybdenum.
The complementary conductive layer, or the combination of the complementary conductive layers if there are several of them, preferably has a thickness of at least 10 nm, especially at least 40 nm. Preferably, it has a thickness of at most 300 nm and the thickness is advantageously chosen to be in a range from 50 to 200 or 300 nm.
According to a first embodiment of this second variant, the electrode comprises at least one complementary conductive layer called M based on a metal or an alloy of at least two metals. These may especially be the following metals or alloys: Cu, Ag, Al, Ta, Ni, Cr, NiCr, steel. It is advantageous to place this (these) complementary metal layer(s) beneath the molybdenum-based layer: in this configuration, the molybdenum layer isolates these metal layers from contact with selenium or sulfur, these elements being particularly corrosive and molybdenum being properly resistant to them.
According to a second embodiment of the second variant, as an alternative to or in conjunction with the first embodiment, the electrode comprises at least one complementary conductive layer called M′N based on a metal nitride. This may especially be a nitride of at least one of the following metals: Ta, Zr, Nb, Ti, Mo, Hf. This layer may be located beneath or above the molybdenum-based layer (or there may be two layers, one beneath said layer and the other above it). The nitride may be stoichiometric, substoichiometric or superstoichiometric in terms of nitrogen. The stoichiometry may be adjusted, especially by varying the percentage of nitrogen in the sputtering chamber when the layer is deposited by reactive sputtering using a metal target.
One particularly advantageous embodiment consists in combining the first two, by providing a layer M′N between a layer M and the Mo-based layer. This is because in this configuration the nitride layer M′N not only acts as a conductive layer but also as a layer preventing (or at the very least significantly reducing) any interdiffusion of species between the two metal layers (M and Mo). It has turned out that the TiN, TaN, ZrN, NbN and MoN layers were effective for preventing the diffusion of copper into the molybdenum layer. It has also been shown that HfN layers were particularly effective for preventing the diffusion of aluminum into the molybdenum layer (this type of formulation based on HfN, etc. does not prejudice the stoichiometry of the nitride—it may either be a substoichiometric or superstoichiometric nitride, as is the case for all the other nitride formulations mentioned in the present text).
It is possible to have, for example, configurations of electrodes according to the invention which comprise the following sequences of layers:
If the layer of metal M is based on silver, it is preferable to ensure that it adheres well to the subjacent layer (for example the Si3N4-type barrier layer in one configuration, namely barrier layer/M layer/M′N layer/Mo layer), by inserting, between said barrier layer and said silver-based layer, a nucleation layer based on zinc oxide. It may also be beneficial, again to ensure better cohesion of the multilayer, to provide a second layer based on zinc oxide on top of the silver layer. The ZnO-based layer or layers, with the ZnO possibly being doped (with Al, B, etc.), are for example chosen to have a thickness of at least 5 nm, for example between 7 and 20 nm.
Preferably, the sum of the thicknesses of the conductive layers of the electrode is less than or equal to 600 nm, especially less than or equal to 500 or 400 nm.
Advantageously, the electrode has a resistance per square of less than or equal to 2Ω/□, especially less than or equal to 1Ω/□ and preferably less than or equal to 0.50 or 0.45Ω/□: these values are appropriate for solar cell electrodes.
According to a preferred variant, the invention has aimed to improve the appearance of solar cells. This is because when a solar cell is fitted to the walls or roof of a building, its appearance on the “inside” of the building (on the outside, the electrode forms a mirror) is not always very attractive. The colorimetric response in reflection is susceptible to improvement.
A first solution to this subsidiary problem according to the invention consists in including the abovementioned barrier layer in a multilayer coating for optical purposes “beneath” the actual electrode. The optical coating consists of at least two layers of dielectric materials having different refractive indices. By varying the thicknesses and the index differences between the layers, the colorimetric response of the multilayer-coated substrate in reflection may thus be quite finely adjusted, by interference.
Preferably, this coating comprises an alternation of layers having a high index (1.9 to 2.3 for example) and layers having a low index (1.4 to 1.7 for example). Embodiments of this coating are, for example, Si3N4/SiO2 or Si3N4/SiO2/Si3N4.
A second solution, as an alternative to or in conjunction with the first, consists in using electrodes containing at least one layer based on a nitride M′N and in modifying, slightly, the nitrogen stoichiometry. This is because it has been found that slightly substoichiometric or superstoicheomtric nitrides retain the same electrical properties but allow the colorimetric response of the substrate to be varied to a certain degree. By combining the two solutions, the number of options in adjusting the colorimetric response is increased.
A third solution, as an alternative or in conjunction with at least one of the first two solutions, consists in placing a thin layer absorbent in the visible beneath the electrode, especially by interposing it between the barrier layer and the electrode. For example, these may be layers of a metal nitride, of the TiN type, and they preferably have a thickness lying within the range from 2 to 15 nm. It is thus possible to have a sequence of layers of the type: glass/barrier layer, such as Si3N4/thin absorbent layer, such as TiN/SiO2/Mo—in this case, the absorbent layer lies “in the middle” of the Si3N4/SiO2 optical coating.
It is thus possible to obtain a substrate provided with this coating and with the electrode which, in reflection, has negative a* and b* values in the (L, a*, b*) colorimetry system, which corresponds to colors in the blue-greens, or a slightly positive a* value and a negative b* value, which corresponds to a color in the pinks.
The subject of the invention is also the substrate defined above and coated, on top of the electrode, with a layer of chalcopyrite absorbent.
The subject of the invention is also said substrate for making solar cells.
The invention will now be explained in detail with the aid of nonlimiting examples of embodiments of electrodes for solar cells, illustrated in
Each example uses a clear silica-soda-lime glass substrate 2 mm in thickness (the glass substrates generally have a thickness of between 1 and 4 or between 1 and 3 mm).
All the layers were deposited on the glass substrates by magnetic-field-enhanced sputtering:
The layers were tested in the following manner:
{circle around (1)}—measurement of the resistance per square R□ (1) by the four-point method after all the layers have been deposited;
{circle around (2)}—the so-called “bronze” test: this test consists in heating the glass provided with all the layers at 350° C. for 10 minutes in air. The test is intended to check whether or not sodium has diffused from the glass into the electrode. At the end of the test, the resistance per square, R/□ (2), is measured, again by the four-point method. In addition, a microscope was used (at ×100 and ×1000 magnifications) to check whether or not the heat treatment has caused defects (pinholes), etc.;
{circle around (3)}—the so-called “selenization” test: this test consists in again heating the glass substrates provided with all the layers in a selenium atmosphere for 10 minutes. The selenium temperature is between 200 and 240° C. and the glass temperature between 325 and 365° C. At the end of the test, the resistance per square, R/□ (3), is again measured and from this is calculated the difference in resistivity, ΔR□ (3), between the value before selenization and the value after selenization.
It should be noted that this selenization test is in fact much “harder” than in reality. This is because the invention here pertains firstly only to the manufacture of the electrodes. However, when the solar cell in its entirety is manufactured, this selenization step takes place once the CIS layer has been deposited: in the normal manufacturing cycle for a solar cell, the electrode is “protected” from direct contact with selenium by the chalcopyrite layer.
For the electrodes to be regarded as being satisfactory, it is deemed advantageous:
This example uses a barrier layer and a molybdenum monolayer electrode, in the sequence:
This example uses the same multilayer stack as in example 1, but with a markedly thinner Mo layer, in the sequence:
This example uses a barrier layer and a bilayer electrode, namely a layer of metal M then a layer of Mo, in the following sequence:
This example uses the same configuration as in example 2, but with another type of layer of metal M:
This example uses a barrier layer and a metal/metal nitride/Mo trilayer electrode in the sequence:
This is the same configuration as example 4, but with a different thickness for the copper layer:
This example uses a barrier layer and a trilayer electrode, in the following sequence:
It corresponds to example 2, but with in addition a TiN layer.
This example again uses a barrier layer and a trilayer electrode, in the following sequence:
It corresponds to example 3, but with in addition a TiN layer.
Table 1 below gives, for each of examples 1 to 7, the values of R┌ (1) and R□ (2), the number of defects after the bronze test (“defects”) and the value of ΔR□ (3), these terms having been explained above.
The following conclusions may be drawn from this data:
An R┌ value markedly less than 1 ohm/square may be obtained with less than 200 nm of molybdenum, which is associated with a layer of metal nitride and/or of metal having reasonable thicknesses (in total, the bilayer or trilayer electrodes have an overall thickness of less than 400 or 500 nm).
The Si3N4 barrier layers are effective and prevent the electrode from deteriorating by sodium diffusion, since in all the examples the R□ (1) and R□ (2) values are the same or almost the same. They therefore also prevent the CIS absorbent layer from deteriorating.
It is also possible to choose to have an Mo monolayer electrode (example 1: 500 nm combined with a barrier layer). It gives good results. It is even possible to have a resistance per square of less than 1 ohm. square with an electrode composed of only 200 nm of Mo. This proves that it is unnecessary to have a much thicker Mo layer, as believed to be the case hitherto.
The purpose of these examples is to adjust the colorimetric response of the electrode in reflection.
The molybdenum layer in all these examples has a thickness of 400 nm or 500 nm. From the standpoint of colorimetric response on the glass side, the molybdenum layer has no effect beyond a thickness of at least 50 to 100 nm, since it is then a perfectly opaque mirror layer: the results would be the same with an Mo layer of 175 or 200 nm.
This example uses the following multilayer stack:
This is the same configuration as in example 8, but in this case the TiN layer was deposited in an atmosphere containing 40% nitrogen.
This is the same configuration as in example 8, but in this case the TiN layer was deposited in an atmosphere containing 70% nitrogen.
The table below gives, for these three examples, values of a* and b* in the (L, a*, b*) colorimetry system, the values being measured on the glass side, and the R┌ values (measurements made before the “bronze” test).
It may be seen that the variation in TiN stoichiometry (which depends on the amount of N2 during the deposition) does not significantly modify the electrical properties of the electrode. On the other hand, it does allow great modifications in the value of a* and, even more, the value of b* —example 8 is thus colored in the reds with a very positive b*, whereas example 8c is in the blue-greens, with a slightly negative b*.
Example 8 has a slightly substoichiometric TiN layer, example 8a has an approximately stoichiometric TiN layer, while example 8c has a tendency to be superstoichiometric in terms of nitrogen.
In this example, the Si3N4 barrier layer (with a refractive index of about 2) is combined with an additional layer based on SiO2 (with a refractive index of about 1.45) in order to make a high-index/low-index optical coating.
The configuration is as follows:
The TiN layer was deposited in an atmosphere containing 20% nitrogen by volume.
Example 9 was repeated, but this time with 40% nitrogen in the TiN deposition atmosphere.
Example 9 was repeated, but this time with 70% nitrogen in the TiN deposition atmosphere.
The table below gives, for these 3 examples, the a*, b* and Rsquare values explained above.
This time, the nitride layer used was made of NbN, in the following configuration:
The NbN layer was deposited in an atmosphere containing 20% nitrogen.
Example 10 was repeated, but in this case the NbN layer was deposited in an atmosphere containing 40% nitrogen.
Example 10 was repeated, but in this case the NbN layer was deposited in an atmosphere containing 70% nitrogen.
The table below gives, for these three examples, the a*, b* and Rsquare values already explained:
In this case, although the NbN is more substoichiometric or superstoichiometric, the a* and b* values are negative, which corresponds to an attractive blue-green color whose intensity varies.
This example repeats the sequence of layers of examples 10, 10a, 10b, but with different Si3N4 and SiO2 thicknesses.
The configuration is as follows:
This example repeats example 11, but in this case the NbN layer was deposited in an atmosphere containing 40% nitrogen.
This example repeats example 11, but in this case the NbN layer was deposited in an atmosphere containing 70% nitrogen.
The table below gives, for these three examples, the a*, b* and R square values already explained:
These examples are therefore in the pinks, this color also being deemed to be attractive.
This example has the following sequence of layers:
It therefore incorporates the barrier layer in a high-index/low-index/high-index three-layer optical coating.
The table below gives the same data for this example as in the previous examples.
This example therefore has a color in the blue-greens, also of low intensity.
In conclusion, the color of the electrodes according to the invention can therefore be finely adjusted by varying the stoichiometry of the nitride layer and/or by adding a filter to at least two layers advantageously including the barrier layer. Moreover, it has been confirmed that the a* and b* values of this second series of examples vary little (by less than ±2) once the “bronze” test has been passed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/01292 | Jan 2001 | FR | national |
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 to U.S. application Ser. No. 10/466,335, filed Mar. 2, 2004, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated in its entirety. U.S. application Ser. No. 10/466,335 is the National Stage of PCT/FR02/00274, filed Jan. 23, 2002. This application also claims foreign priority to French Application No. 01/01292, filed Jan. 31, 2001.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10466335 | Mar 2004 | US |
| Child | 13336197 | US |
