Granted Patent B1

US 12,414,402 · App. 19/009,396 · Granted Sep 9, 2025

Inventors: Kurt G. Conti (New Providence, NJ); Cullin J. Wible (Austin, TX); Tim Gessert (Conifer, CO)

Assignee: Conti Innovation Center, LLC

H10F71/1253C23C14/0036C23C14/0042C23C14/0057C23C14/0068C23C14/0623C23C14/0629H10F10/162H10F71/125H10F71/128H10F71/138H10F71/1257

Abstract

Claims (40)

1. A method of manufacturing a cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive solar cell, the method comprising:

pumping, by a pumping system, a vacuum chamber to a base pressure;

pumping, by the pumping system, the vacuum chamber to raise the base pressure to a sputtering pressure;

providing, by one or more mass flow controllers, into the vacuum chamber a first gas at a rate that balances a flow of the first gas in and out of the vacuum chamber with respect to the sputtering pressure;

heating a surface of a partially manufactured cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive solar cell within the vacuum chamber to a calibrated deposition temperature;

providing, by the one or more mass flow controllers, into the vacuum chamber a second gas comprising at least a hydrogen gas (H 2 ) at a proportional rate to achieve a target gas mix while maintaining the sputtering pressure by separately running the pumping system; and

depositing a target material onto the surface to form a back contact section of the cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive solar cell.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target gas mix comprise the hydrogen gas (H 2 ) at or below 1.00%.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target gas mix comprises the hydrogen gas (H 2 ) at or approximately at 0.1%.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrogen gas (H 2 ) comprises a preblended hydrogen gas mix.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrogen gas (H 2 ) and the first gas are provided across a plurality of phases to achieve the target gas mix.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target material comprises a copper-doped zinc telluride (ZnTe:Cu).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target material is deposited in a superstrate configuration onto the surface of a transmissive absorber section of the partially manufactured cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive solar cell.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target material is deposited in a substrate configuration onto the surface of a back electrode section of the partially manufactured cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive solar cell.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target material is deposited onto the surface at a rate of one (1) to five (5) angstroms per second to a section thickness of twenty (20) nanometers (nm) to one hundred and fifty (150) nanometers (nm).

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a deposition rate of the target material is controlled by setting a power supply of a sputter gun to a calibrated power density and performing the depositing the target material for a specified time to achieve a section thickness of twenty (20) nanometers (nm) to one hundred and fifty (150) nanometers (nm).

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein a substrate holder system is set to a set point temperature to heat the surface to a calibrated deposition temperature along a range of two hundred (200) degrees Celsius (° C.) to six hundred (600) degrees Celsius (° C.).

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a substrate holder system is set to a set point temperature to heat the surface to a calibrated deposition temperature at or approximately at three hundred (300) degrees Celsius (° C.).

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

depositing one or more substrate section materials; or

depositing one or more conductive section materials.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

operating one or more shutters to control the deposition of the target material while adjusting the target gas mix.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first gas comprises argon gas (Ar).

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

depositing one or more first transmissive absorber section materials.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein a substrate holder system is set to a set point temperature to heat a deposition surface of the partially manufactured cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive to a calibrated first transmissive absorber deposition temperature along a range of two hundred (200) degrees Celsius (° C.) to six hundred (600) degrees Celsius (° C.).

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the one or more first transmissive absorber section materials comprise cadmium selenide telluride (CdSeTe) with a selenium concentration of 50% or more.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

depositing one or more second transmissive absorber section materials comprising a cadmium (Cd) alloy comprises cadmium selenide telluride (CdSeTe) or cadmium selenide (CdSe).

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein a substrate holder system is set to a set point temperature to heat a deposition surface of the partially manufactured cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive solar cell to a calibrated absorber temperature along a range of one hundred (100) degrees Celsius (° C.) to three hundred fifty (350) degrees Celsius (° C.).

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

performing a post deposition annealing of the one or more second transmissive absorber section materials at an annealing time and an annealing temperature.

22. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

performing a cadmium chloride (CdCl2) post-deposition treatment of the one or more second transmissive absorber section materials at a treatment temperature.

23. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

depositing one or more materials for a back electrode section of the partially manufactured cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive solar cell.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second gas is turned off during a pre-sputter phase comprising raising the base pressure to a sputtering pressure and one or more shutters are in a closed position.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the second gas is turned on when the pre-sputter phase concludes with the base pressure raised to the sputtering pressure and the one or more shutters are moved to an open position.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein during the depositing of the target material a first shutter over the target material is opened while the vacuum chamber stabilizes and a second shutter over the cadmium (Cd) alloy transmissive solar cell is opened after the vacuum chamber stabilizes.

Assignments (1)

References Cited (320)