ARRAYS OF ULTRATHIN SILICON SOLAR MICROCELLS
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Provided are solar cells, photovoltaics and related methods for making solar cells, wherein the solar cell is made of ultrathin solar grade or low quality silicon. In an aspect, the invention is a method of making a solar cell by providing a solar cell substrate having a receiving surface and assembling a printable semiconductor element on the receiving surface of the substrate via contact printing. The semiconductor element has a thickness that is less than or equal to 100 μm and, for example, is made from low grade Si.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. (canceled)
-
2. An ultrathin silicon solar microcell comprising:
-
a solar cell substrate; and a plurality of semiconductor elements supported by said substrate, wherein said semiconductor elements are made from low grade Si and have a thickness that is less than or equal to 100 μ
m. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A conformal solar cell device comprising:
-
a plurality of composite solar microcells, each composite solar microcell comprising; a flexible substrate; a flexible semiconductor element disposed on the flexible substrate, the flexible semiconductor element comprising at least one active region; and an encapsulant material disposed over a portion of the flexible semiconductor element; and one or more flexible interconnects; wherein each of the one or more flexible interconnects is in electrical communication with a portion of each flexible semiconductor element of at least two adjacent composite solar microcells; and wherein the flexible semiconductor element of at least one composite solar microcell of the plurality of composite solar microcells has a thickness less than or equal to about 100 μ
m and includes an active region comprising solar-grade silicon or low-grade silicon.- View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A conformal solar cell device comprising:
-
a plurality of composite solar microcells, each composite solar microcell comprising; a flexible substrate; a flexible semiconductor element disposed on the flexible substrate, the flexible semiconductor element comprising at least one active region; and an encapsulant material disposed over a portion of the flexible semiconductor element; and at least one solar micro-concentrator disposed over at least one composite solar microcell of the plurality of composite solar microcells; and one or more flexible interconnects; wherein each of the one or more flexible interconnects is in electrical communication with a portion of each flexible semiconductor element of at least two adjacent composite solar microcells; and wherein the flexible semiconductor element of at least one composite solar microcell of the plurality of composite solar microcells has a thickness less than or equal to about 100 μ
m and includes an active region comprising solar-grade silicon or low-grade silicon.
-
Specification