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High efficiency thin-film multiple-gap photovoltaic device

  • US 4,377,723 A
  • Filed: 05/02/1980
  • Issued: 03/22/1983
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/02/1980
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. In a thin-film multiple-gap photovoltaic device having an opaque electrical contact and a transparent electrical contact with a first cell and a second cell therebetween and with the first cell being adjacent the transparent electrical contact and the second cell being adjacent the opaque electrical contact, each of the cells having a junction layer and a base layer and an electrical junction therebetween and each base layer comprising a base region and an intermediate region with the intermediate region being adjacent the electrical junction layer, the improvement being each of said cells being made from semiconductor materials selected from Group IV elements and their alloys in the amorphous state, said first cell having a higher bandgap than the bandgap of said second cell, and an optically transparent amorphous semiconductor buffer layer of the same conductivity type as the conductivity type of the junction layer of said second cell between said first cell and said second cell for connecting said cells together.

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