A method of producing a structure comprising a substrate (11) having at least one integral first face at a first angle relative to a normal from the substrate, at least one second integral second face at a second angle relative to a normal from the substrate; with a cavity in the structure between the first and second faces; the method comprising the steps of: coating a portion (15) of the first face with a first conducting layer; coating a portion (18) of the second face with a second conducting layer; and depositing in the cavity an active material (31) to provide ohmic and rectifying contacts for insertion or extraction of charge from the active material by way of the first and second conducting layers. The active material may be photovoltaic, light emitting or ion conducting.

A photovoltaic device is presented. The photovoltaic device includes a layer stack; and an absorber layer is disposed on the layer stack. The absorber layer comprises selenium, wherein an atomic concentration of selenium varies across a thickness of the absorber layer. The photovoltaic device is substantially free of a cadmium sulfide layer.

Disclosed embodiments include CdS/CdTe PV devices (100) having a back contact (110,112) with oxygen gettering capacity. Also disclosed are back contact structures (110, 112) and methods of forming a back contact in a CdS/CdTe PV device (100). The described contacts and methods feature a contact having a contact interface layer (100) comprising a contact interface material, a p-type dopant and a gettering metal.

A thin film radiation detection device includes a photosensitive p-n diode, a thin film transistor (TFT), a radiation detection layer, and a substrate. The photosensitive p-n diode and the TFT are formed on the substrate. The radiation detection layer is formed above the substrate and receives multiple radiations. The photosensitive p-n diode receives a conversion output signal from the radiation detection layer and generates a detector signal. The TFT generates an amplified signal based on the detector signal.

The present invention improves sensitivity of the ultraviolet band of a photoelectric surface. A photoelectric surface includes a window material that transmits ultraviolet rays, a conductive film that is formed on the window material and has conductivity, an intermediate film 4 that is formed on the conductive film and is formed of MgF.sub.2, and a photoelectric conversion film that is formed on the intermediate film 4 and is formed of CsTe. Since the photoelectric surface includes the intermediate film 4 formed of MgF.sub.2, the sensitivity of the ultraviolet band is improved.

The present invention relates to an application liquid for forming a semiconductor film, the application liquid comprising: an inorganic semiconductor particle; and a compound having a relative permittivity of 2 or more or a compound having reducing power against the inorganic semiconductor particle; a method for producing a semiconductor film comprising a step of applying the application liquid; a semiconductor film and a semiconductor element comprising the semiconductor film; and a method for producing the semiconductor element.

The present invention provides stretchable, and optionally printable, semiconductors and electronic circuits capable of providing good performance when stretched, compressed, flexed or otherwise deformed. Stretchable semiconductors and electronic circuits of the present invention preferred for some applications are flexible, in addition to being stretchable, and thus are capable of significant elongation, flexing, bending or other deformation along one or more axes. Further, stretchable semiconductors and electronic circuits of the present invention may be adapted to a wide range of device configurations to provide fully flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices.

An electrical device includes a substrate with a compressive layer, a neutral stress buffer layer and a tensile stress compensation layer. The stress buffer layer and the stress compensation layer may each be formed with aluminum nitride using different processing parameters to provide a different intrinsic stress value for each layer. The aluminum nitride tensile layer is configured to counteract stresses from the compressive layer in the device to thereby control an amount of substrate bow in the device. This is useful for protecting fragile materials in the device, such as mercury cadmium telluride. The aluminum nitride stress compensation layer also can compensate for forces, such as due to CTE mismatches, to protect the fragile layer. The device may include temperature-sensitive materials, and the aluminum nitride stress compensation layer or stress buffer layer may be formed at a temperature below the thermal degradation temperature of the temperature-sensitive material.

A method for producing a CdTe solar cell is provided, wherein at least the following layers are deposited on a glass substrate within a vacuum chamber: a TCO layer acting as a frontal contact; at least one CdTe layer; a thin layer of a chlorine-containing compound, and an electrically conductive layer acting as a return contact. Here, a maximally 20 nm thick passivation layer made from CdS, in which chemically non-bound oxygen is embedded, is deposited on the TCO layer prior to deposition of at least one CdTe-layer.

The present disclosure relates to thin-film solar cells with improved efficiency and methods for producing thin-film solar cells having increased efficiency. In certain embodiments, thin-film solar cells having an efficiency of over 21%, over 20%, over 19%, over 15%, over 10%, etc. has been obtained using the methods of the disclosure. In certain aspects, the methods of the disclosure use passivation, passivating oxides, and/or doping treatments in increase the efficiency of the thin-film solar cells; e.g., CdTe-based thin-film solar cells.