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Method for forming cadmium tin oxide layer and a photovoltaic device

A cadmium tin oxide, transparent layer technology, applied in photovoltaic power generation, semiconductor devices, semiconductor/solid-state device manufacturing, etc., can solve problems such as difficult assembly and disassembly, misalignment of CTO film sublimation, and increased manufacturing cost of CdS

Active Publication Date: 2012-07-11
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, CdS-based annealing of CTO is difficult to achieve in a large-scale manufacturing environment
Specifically, it is very difficult to assemble and disassemble the boards before and after the annealing process, which typically requires manual intervention by the operator, and there is a high risk of misalignment that could lead to sublimation of the CTO film
Furthermore, the use of expensive CdS on non-reusable glass plates for each annealing step increases manufacturing costs

Method used

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  • Method for forming cadmium tin oxide layer and a photovoltaic device
  • Method for forming cadmium tin oxide layer and a photovoltaic device
  • Method for forming cadmium tin oxide layer and a photovoltaic device

Examples

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Effect test

example 1

[0098] Example 1 Rapid thermal annealing of a CTO layer disposed on borosilicate glass

[0099] Cadmium tin oxide (CTO) thin films were prepared on borosilicate glass supports by room temperature DC sputtering using a ceramic target and a sputtering pressure of 16.5 mTorr. The borosilicate glass support has a thickness of approximately 1.3 mm. The rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process was performed in an argon atmosphere (-700 Torr) and no additional source of cadmium was used (to compensate for Cd loss from the film during thermal annealing). Several 0.5 inch x 1 inch samples were cut from 6 inch x 6 inch plates, resulting in ~216 nm thick amorphous CTO films on borosilicate glass. These samples were placed in sealed quartz tubes filled with argon and introduced into a custom designed rapid annealing system based on a single 2 kilowatt halogen lamp. The halogen lamp was pulsed and a fixed pulse width of 30 seconds was used. Vary the power of the lights to explore the area ...

example 2

[0105] Example 2 Rapid thermal annealing of a CTO layer on soda lime glass

[0106] Three films of CTO were prepared on soda lime glass supports by room temperature DC sputtering using a ceramic target and a sputtering pressure of 16 mTorr. The soda lime glass support has a thickness of approximately 3.2 mm. CTO films on soda lime glass supports were subjected to RTA using the method as described above in Example 1. However, for the CTO film provided on the soda lime glass support, the rapid thermal annealing treatment was repeated 3 to 4 times using a pulse width of 30 seconds for each cycle. The total duration of the annealing step is about 2 minutes.

[0107] Figure 17 shows the progression towards increased optical clarity with each successive annealing cycle. The slower annealing rate of the CTO film on soda-lime glass may be due to the thicker soda-lime glass support (3.2 mm), which causes a different heat distribution to occur (when compared to the thinner (1.3 mm) b...

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Abstract

The invention relates to a method for forming cadmium tin oxide layer and a photovoltaic device. In one aspect of the present invention, a method for forming cadmium tin oxide layer is provided. The method includes disposing a substantially amorphous cadmium tin oxide layer on a support and rapidly thermally annealing the substantially amorphous cadmium tin oxide layer by exposing a first surface of the substantially amorphous cadmium tin oxide layer to an electromagnetic radiation to form a transparent layer. A method of making a photovoltaic device is also provided.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to methods for forming photovoltaic devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods for forming polycrystalline cadmium tin oxide layers by rapid thermal annealing. Background technique [0002] Thin film solar cells or photovoltaic devices typically include a plurality of semiconductor layers disposed on a transparent support, with one layer acting as a window layer and a second layer acting as an absorber layer. The window layer allows penetration of solar radiation to the absorber layer where light energy is converted into usable electrical energy. A photovoltaic cell based on a cadmium telluride / cadmium sulfide (CdTe / CdS) heterojunction is one such example of a thin film solar cell. [0003] Typically, a thin layer of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) is deposited between the support and the window layer (eg, CdS) to function as a front contact current collector. However, conventional TCOs such...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(China)
IPC IPC(8): H01L31/18H01L31/0224
CPCC03C17/23Y02E10/52H01L31/073H01L31/0224H01L31/022466H01L31/1884C23C14/08H01L21/02565H01L21/02472H01L31/18H01L21/428H01L21/02631H01L21/02554H01L21/363H01L21/02483H01L21/477H01L21/28Y02E10/543C23C14/086C23C14/5806C03C17/2453C03C2217/232C03C2218/32Y02P70/50H01L31/04
Inventor J·D·迈克尔B·E·布拉克特K·W·安德雷尼J·C·罗霍S·费尔德曼-皮博迪
Owner GENERAL ELECTRIC CO