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|United States Patent||5,261,968|
|Jordan||November 16, 1993|
An improved photovoltaic panel and method of forming a photovoltaic panel are disclosed for producing a high efficiency CdS/CdTe photovoltaic cell. The photovoltaic panel of the present invention is initially formed with a substantially thick CdS layer, and the effective thickness of the CdS layer is substantially reduced during regrowth to both form large diameter CdTe crystals and substantially reduce the effective thickness of the CdS layer by diffusion into the CdTe layer such that a majority of sunlight having a wavelength less than 520 nm passes through the CdS layer to the photovoltaic junction. Shorting of individual cells is substantially minimized by providing a conductive layer which is formed from two tin oxide layers, each having substantially dissimilar electrical conductivity, such that an electrically-conductive tin oxide layer interconnects the plurality of photovoltaic cells, while the comparatively high resistivity tin oxide layer prevents shorting of a cell. The electron density of the high resistivity tin oxide layer may be adjusted to be within a magnitude of approximately three orders of the presumed electron density of the CdTe layer, such that a energy-producing junction is formed in any area of flaws in the CdS layer by the CdTe layer and tin oxide layer. The photovoltaic panel of the present invention has a low material and manufacturing cost, yet produces a surprisingly high efficiency to produce a low cost per output watt photovoltaic panel.
|Inventors:||Jordan; John F. (El Paso, TX)|
Photon Energy, Inc.
|Filed:||January 13, 1992|
|Current U.S. Class:||136/244 ; 136/256; 136/258; 136/260; 136/264; 257/184; 257/E27.124; 257/E31.017; 257/E31.126; 438/85; 438/94; 438/95; 438/97|
|Current International Class:||H01L 31/0296 (20060101); H01L 31/0224 (20060101); H01L 31/068 (20060101); H01L 31/06 (20060101); H01L 31/072 (20060101); H01L 31/0264 (20060101); H01L 27/142 (20060101); H01L 031/042 (); H01L 031/18 (); H01L 031/072 (); H01L 031/0368 ()|
|Field of Search:||437/4-5 136/244,258PC,260,261,264-265 357/3B,3E,3F,3H,3J,3K,59D,61-63|
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|4735909||April 1988||Albright et al.|
|5078803||January 1992||Pier et al.|
|5078804||January 1992||Chen et al.|
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