MOUNTING OF SOLAR CELLS ON A FLEXIBLE SUBSTRATE

1 . A method of manufacturing a solar cell, comprising:

depositing a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming at least one solar cell on a growth substrate;

temporarily bonding a flexible film to a support substrate; permanently bonding the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to the flexible film so that the flexible film is interposed between the growth and support substrates;

thinning the growth substrate while bonded to the support substrate to expose the sequence of layers of semiconductor material;

subsequently removing the entire support substrate from the flexible film; and

attaching the flexible film and the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to a solar panel with the flexible film and the sequence of layers of semiconductor material being flexible enough to conform to a substantially non-planar surface.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein temporarily bonding the flexible film to the support substrate comprises:

applying a temporary adhesive to a surface of the flexible film or the support substrate; and

bonding the flexible film to the support substrate with the temporary adhesive.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein subsequently removing the support substrate from the flexible film comprises applying an adhesive remover to holes formed through the support substrate to dissolve the temporary adhesive.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein permanently bonding the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to the flexible film comprises:

applying a permanent adhesive to a surface of the flexible film or a metallized surface of the sequence of layers of semiconductor material; and

bonding the flexible film to the sequence of layers of semiconductor material with the permanent adhesive.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising separating the sequence of layers of semiconductor material and the flexible film into individual solar cell chips while the sequence of layers of semiconductor material are still bonded to the support substrate.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein depositing a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming at least one solar cell on the first substrate includes:

forming a first solar subcell on the growth substrate having a first band gap;

forming a second solar subcell over the first solar subcell having a second band gap smaller than the first band gap;

forming a grading interlayer over the second solar subcell having a third band gap larger than the second band gap; and

forming a third solar subcell having a fourth band gap smaller than the second band gap such that the third solar subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to the second solar subcell.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the grading interlayer is composed of InGaAlAs.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the grading interlayer is composed of a plurality of layers with a monotonically increasing lattice constant.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the support substrate has a thickness of about 40 mils.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising attaching the flexible film and the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to a curved surface of the solar panel.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the flexible film is a polyimide film.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the growth substrate has a crystalline structure.

13 . A method of manufacturing a solar cell, comprising:

depositing a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming at least one solar cell on a growth substrate;

attaching a flexible film to a support substrate with a temporary adhesive;

attaching the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to the flexible film with a permanent adhesive so that the flexible film is interposed between the growth and support substrates;

thinning the growth substrate while bonded to the support substrate to expose the sequence of layers of semiconductor material;

subsequently applying an adhesive remover to holes formed through the support substrate to dissolve the temporary adhesive and completely remove the support substrate from the flexible film; and

attaching the sequence of layers of semiconductor material and the film to a solar panel, wherein the flexible film and the sequence of layers of semiconductor material are flexible enough to conform to a substantially non-planar surface.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the flexible film comprises a polyimide film.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein attaching the flexible film to the support substrate with a temporary adhesive comprises:

plugging the holes formed through the support substrate;

spinning the temporary adhesive onto the flexible film or the support substrate while the holes are plugged; and

curing the temporary adhesive.

16 . The method of claim 15 , farther comprising separating the sequence of layers of semiconductor material and the flexible film into individual solar cell chips before the support substrate is removed from the flexible film.

17 . A method of manufacturing a solar cell, comprising:

depositing a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming at least one inverted metamorphic multifunction solar cell on a growth substrate;

temporarily bonding a flexible film to a support substrate;

permanently bonding the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to the flexible film so that the flexible film is interposed between the growth and support substrates;

thinning the growth substrate while bonded to the support substrate to expose the sequence of layers of semiconductor material;

subsequently removing the support substrate from the flexible film; and

attaching the flexible film and the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to a solar panel with the flexible film and the sequence of layers of semiconductor material being flexible enough to conform to a substantially non-planar surface.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein permanently bonding the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to the flexible film comprises permanently bonding a metallized surface of the sequence of layers of semiconductor material to the flexible film with a permanent adhesive.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein subsequently removing the support substrate from the flexible film comprises applying an adhesive remover to holes formed through the support substrate to dissolve the temporary adhesive and remove the support substrate from the flexible film.

20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the flexible film is a polyimide film and the growth substrate has a crystalline structure.