Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L31/1828—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof the active layers comprising only AIIBVI compounds, e.g. CdS, ZnS, CdTe
  • H01L31/1836—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof the active layers comprising only AIIBVI compounds, e.g. CdS, ZnS, CdTe comprising a growth substrate not being an AIIBVI compound
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/0248—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies
  • H01L31/036—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies characterised by their crystalline structure or particular orientation of the crystalline planes
  • H01L31/0392—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies characterised by their crystalline structure or particular orientation of the crystalline planes including thin films deposited on metallic or insulating substrates ; characterised by specific substrate materials or substrate features or by the presence of intermediate layers, e.g. barrier layers, on the substrate
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/0248—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies
  • H01L31/036—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies characterised by their crystalline structure or particular orientation of the crystalline planes
  • H01L31/0392—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies characterised by their crystalline structure or particular orientation of the crystalline planes including thin films deposited on metallic or insulating substrates ; characterised by specific substrate materials or substrate features or by the presence of intermediate layers, e.g. barrier layers, on the substrate
  • H01L31/03925—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies characterised by their crystalline structure or particular orientation of the crystalline planes including thin films deposited on metallic or insulating substrates ; characterised by specific substrate materials or substrate features or by the presence of intermediate layers, e.g. barrier layers, on the substrate including AIIBVI compound materials, e.g. CdTe, CdS
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L31/186—Particular post-treatment for the devices, e.g. annealing, impurity gettering, short-circuit elimination, recrystallisation
  • H01L31/1864—Annealing
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
  • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
  • Y02P70/00—Climate change mitigation technologies in the production process for final industrial or consumer products
  • Y02P70/50—Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product

Definitions

• CdTe cadmium telluride
• CdTe serves merely as an example of all thin-film solar cells.
• CdTe- and CdTe/CdS solar cells can be produced in accordance with different methods (US 5 304499) commonly comprising a thermal treatment at a minimum of 575°C to ensure adequate efficiency. These temperatures only permit the use of expensive types of glass as carrier. Glass as a carrier has the disadvantage that the coating with CdTe can be performed only discontinuously on glass sheets, irrespectively of which coating method is selected.
• the glass firstly to be provided with a transparent, electrically conductive coating, consisting for example of doped tin oxide.
• a transparent, electrically conductive coating consisting for example of doped tin oxide.
• a thin coating of cadmium sulphide (CdS) then follows, to which the light-sensitive CdTe film is then applied by sublimation at 480 to 520°C.
• carrier material and CdTe source are accommodated by oppositely disposed graphite blocks heated to the required temperature, such that the CdTe source is arranged at a distance of only 2 to 3 mm from the carrier surface.
• the sublimation then takes place in a 0.1 mbar inert gas atmosphere, e.g. a nitrogen-, helium-, argon- or hydrogen atmosphere.
• a nitrogen-, helium-, argon- or hydrogen atmosphere Large surfaces of CdTe-coated material for the manufacture of solar cells cannot be produced cost-effectively in this way.
• the object of the invention was to produce a material for the manufacture of solar cells with a support and a photovoltaically active layer on said support, e.g. a CdTe layer, in a cost-effective manner.
• the method is also suitable for coating with other substances and tempering, for example for the production of transparent, conductive films of indium-tin oxide (ITO).
• ITO indium-tin oxide
• the invention relates to a method of coating organic-polymeric carrier materials with at least one substance, in particular at least one inorganic substance, preferably CdTe, and tempering of the film applied to the thus coated materials, characterised in that the carrier material has a thickness of at least 60 ⁇ m, in particular 90 to 120 ⁇ m, and consists of a polymeric material with a glass transition temperature of at least 90°C, the applied film has a thickness of a maximum of 30 ⁇ m, in particular 2 to 7 ⁇ m, the coating is performed at temperatures below the glass transition temperature and the tempering is performed at temperatures of at least 250°C, in particular 400 to 600°C, by means of a plasma.
• the carrier material has a thickness of at least 60 ⁇ m, in particular 90 to 120 ⁇ m, and consists of a polymeric material with a glass transition temperature of at least 90°C
• the applied film has a thickness of a maximum of 30 ⁇ m, in particular 2 to 7 ⁇ m
• the coating is performed at temperatures below the
• Plasma is to be understood as that aggregation state of the matter wherein a gas consist to equal parts of positive and negative charged particles and thereby is externally neutral.
• the production of a plasma at very high temperatures by separation of shell electrons from the atomic residue is known.
• the method according to the invention is performed by focusing a laser of sufficient strength that at the focal point the magnitude of the electric field strength becomes such that the electrons of the air molecules, preferably however a protective gas such as nitrogen or argon, break away from their atomic cores, whereby the plasma forms.
• This plasma is hot and expands. If the laser is pulsed, in focus with the pulse frequency of the laser one obtains a pulsating plasma with correspondingly frequent pressure surges to its environment. This pulsating plasma can be conducted over the film to be sintered, whereby three events then occur:
• the film absorbs the laser directly and is thereby heated, the film is additionally heated by the hot plasma sliding along its surface, the pulsating plasma produces pressure surges which mechanically compress the film.
• a suitable laser is, for example, a neodymium-YAG laser with 100 mJ pulse energy and 50 Hz pulse frequency.
• the layer to be sintered is irradiated with a continuous laser which heats the layer but does not damage it at the given transportation speed of material.
• the pulsing laser then sinters the heated zone of the material.
• the coating is performed, for example, using an aqueous or solvent-containing CdTe suspension.
• Suitable coating methods consist for example of casting and blade coating.
• the tempering can be performed several times; cooling phases are preferably provided between two tempering steps.
• Suitable polymers are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene naphthalate (PEN).
• PET polyethylene terephthalate
• PEN polyethylene naphthalate
• the polymeric carrier material Prior to the coating the polymeric carrier material can be provided with a substrate layer, consisting for example of indium-tin oxide, which improves the adhesion of the CdTe film.
• the substrate layer is to be transparent and electrically conductive.
• Organic-polymeric carrier materials are flexible and thus permit continuous coating in accordance with a suitable coating method, for example a continuous coating method using a casting device, for example a meniscus or curtain casting device as known in association with the coating of photographic film.
• the CdTe particles may be especially fine- particled, and in particular to consist of so-called nano-particles, i.e. particles whose average diameter is in the nanometre range and amounts for example to 3 to 5 nm.
• the invention further relates to a solar cell with at least one CdTe film having a thickness of a maximum of 30 ⁇ m on a carrier, characterised in that the carrier is a polymeric organic material having a thickness of at least 60 ⁇ m and a glass transition temperature of at least 90°C.
• a 100 ⁇ m thick sheet of PEN with a width of 100 cm is continuously coated with a suspension containing a dispersant and, per litre, 31 g cadmium telluride. Then the coated sheet is dried and has a dry layer thickness of the applied film of 5 ⁇ m.
• the sheet is tempered as follows:
• a neodymium-YAG-laser with lOO mJ pulse energy and 50 Hz pulse frequency is focused such that a pulsating plasma forms closely above the sheet.
• the sheet is moved in grid-like manner under this plasma so that the entire surface to be sintered is heated successively, yet sufficiently briefly that the sheet is not damaged.
• a sheet of PEN according to Example 1 is coated and dried according to Example 1. Then the sheet is continuously heated by a diode laser with a power of 8 kW/cm 2 and a duration of exposition of each square element of 100 ms, and thereafter a pulsating plasma with 100 mJ pulse energy and 50 Hz pulse frequency is produced closely above the surface of the layer to be sintered by a neodymium-YAG-laser.
• the sheet After tempering the sheet is suitable for the production of a photovoltaic cell.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
• Electromagnetism (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Photovoltaic Devices (AREA)

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• 1999
  • 1999-02-02 DE DE19904082A patent/DE19904082A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2000
  • 2000-01-18 JP JP2000597846A patent/JP2002536835A/ja active Pending
  • 2000-01-18 EP EP00904935A patent/EP1159765A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2000-01-18 WO PCT/EP2000/000397 patent/WO2000046861A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation

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