Highly solar-energy absorbing device and method of making the same
First Claim
1. A highly solar-energy absorbing device comprising an amorphous semiconductor body having at least one etched surface characterized by an array of oriented acicular structures, wherein the distance between adjacent structures is within or near the solar-energy wavelength or wavelengths to be absorbed.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention contemplates a highly solar-energy absorbing device wherein the surface exposed to incident solar energy is a particularly characterized roughness of an amorphous semiconductor material, the particular characterization being that of an array of outwardly projecting structural elements of relatively high aspect ratio and at effective lateral spacings which are or include those in the order of magnitude of wavelengths within the solar-energy spectrum.
-
Citations
34 Claims
-
1. A highly solar-energy absorbing device comprising an amorphous semiconductor body having at least one etched surface characterized by an array of oriented acicular structures, wherein the distance between adjacent structures is within or near the solar-energy wavelength or wavelengths to be absorbed.
- 2. An energy-absorbing device that is highly absorbent of energy incident in a particular direction and in a particular and limited spectral range, comprising an amorphous semiconductor body having an etched surface adapted to be exposed to such energy incidence, said surface being characterized by an array of acicular structures having spaced axes such that at least a substantial fraction of said structures are at an axis-to-axis lateral offset between adjacent acicular structures which offset is in the order of magnitude of wavelengths within the solar-energy spectrum.
-
6. A highly solar-energy absorbing device, comprising an amorphous semiconductor body having at least one etched surface characterized by an array of interpenetrating generally conical pits, wherein said pits are of randomly distributed depth and wherein the spacing between pits of greatest depth does not substantially exceed the wavelength of the infrared end of the solar-energy spectrum, whereby the axial spacing between pits of lesser depth within said random distribution necessarily includes a random distribution of spacings of smaller pits at solar-energy wavelengths.
-
7. A highly solar-energy absorbing device, comprising a substrate having a supporting surface, a sputtered amorphous semiconductor body united to and covering at least a portion of said surface, said body having an etched outer surface substantially characterized by an array of outwardly projecting structural elements of aspect ratio within the range 2:
- 1 to 10;
1 and at lateral spacings at least a substantial fraction of which are in the order of magnitude of wavelengths within the solar-energy spectrum. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
- 1 to 10;
-
23. The method of making a highly solar-energy absorbing surface on a substrate body, which comprises the controlled sputtering application of a layer of amorphous semiconductor material to an exposed-surface area of said body, and then altering the exposed-surface morphology of said layer by etching the same to form an array of outwardly projecting structural elements, the etchant being selected for the particular semiconductor material and applied in such strength and for such exposure time and ambient conditions of temperature as to form said structural elements with an aspect ratio in the range 2:
- 1 to 10;
1 and at lateral spacings which are in the order of magnitude of a wavelength within the solar-energy spectrum. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
- 1 to 10;
-
34. The product of the method of making a highly solar-energy absorbing surface on a substrate body, which comprises the controlled sputtering application of a layer of amorphous semiconductor material to an exposed-surface area of said body, and then altering the exposed-surface morphology of said layer by etching the same to form an array of outwardly projecting structural elements, the etchant being selected for the particular semiconductor material and applied in such strength and for such exposure time and ambient conditions of temperature as to form at least a substantial fraction of said structural elements with an aspect ratio in the range 2:
- 1 to 10;
1 and at lateral spacings which are in the range of 0.2 to 2.0μ
.
- 1 to 10;
Specification