Techniques for precisely controlling the composition of volatile components (such as sulfur (S), selenium (Se), and tin (Sn)) of chalcogenide semiconductors in real-time—during production of the material are provided. In one aspect, a method for forming a chalcogenide semiconductor material includes providing a S source(s) and a Se source(s); heating the S source(s) to form a S-containing vapor; heating the Se source(s) to form a Se-containing vapor; passing a carrier gas first through the S-containing vapor and then through the Se-containing vapor, wherein the S-containing vapor and the Se-containing vapor are transported via the carrier gas to a sample; and contacting the S-containing vapor and the Se-containing vapor with the sample under conditions sufficient to form the chalcogenide semiconductor material. A multi-chamber processing apparatus is also provided.

A lightweight display includes a plurality of display modules having a plurality of pixels carried by a display mounting frame. A support frame integral with the display mounting frame provides support. An electronic support member carries electrical components electrically communicating with the plurality of display modules for controlling the display of an image. Wherein the depth of the plurality of display modules, display mounting frame, support frame and electronic support member is less than four inches when defining a display assembly. Also wherein the display assembly has a screen size measured diagonally in a range of 114 inches to 224 inches and a weight in the range of 90 pounds to 120 pounds and wherein the display assembly has an aspect ratio ranging from 1.67 to 1.82.

A method for producing a layer system for thin-film solar cells is described, wherein a) an absorber layer is produced, and b) a buffer layer is produced on the absorber layer, wherein the buffer layer contains sodium indium sulfide according to the formula Na.sub.xIn.sub.y-x/3S with 0.063≦x≦0.625 and 0.681≦y≦1.50, and wherein the buffer layer is produced, without deposition of indium sulfide, based on at least one sodium thioindate compound.

A semiconductor device including pixels arranged in a matrix of n rows and m columns, in which the pixels in the m-th column are shielded from light, is provided.

Disclosed are a solar cell apparatus and a method for fabricating the same. The solace cell apparatus according to the embodiment includes a solar cell formed on a support substrate; a polymer adhesive layer including photo-curable polymer on the solar cell; and a protective panel on the polymer adhesive layer.

A compositional range of fusion-formable, high strain point sodium free, silicate, aluminosilicate and boroaluminosilicate glasses are described herein. The glasses can be used as substrates for photovoltaic devices, for example, thin film photovoltaic devices such as CIGS photovoltaic devices. These glasses can be characterized as having strain points ≧540° C., thermal expansion coefficient of from 6.5 to 10.5 ppm/° C., as well as liquidus viscosities in excess of 50,000 poise. As such they are ideally suited for being formed into sheet by the fusion process.

A perovskite-based solar cell comprising a transparent electrode disposed on a buffer layer that protects the perovskite from damage during the deposition of the electrode is disclosed. The buffer material is deposited using either low-temperature atomic-layer deposition, chemical-vapor deposition, or pulsed chemical-vapor deposition. In some embodiments, the perovskite material is operative as an absorption layer in a multi-cell solar-cell structure. In some embodiments, the perovskite material is operative as an absorption layer in a single-junction solar cell structure.

A method of fabricating a buffer layer of a photovoltaic device comprises: providing a substrate having a back contact layer disposed above the substrate and an absorber layer disposed above the back contact layer; depositing a metal layer on the absorber layer; and performing a thermal treatment on the deposited metal layer in an atmosphere comprising sulfur, selenium or oxygen, to form a buffer layer.

A photovoltaic module is specified, comprising: a cylindrical light-transmissive tube enclosing an interior and having a main extension direction and a curved inner surface facing the interior, and a mechanically flexible photovoltaic component comprising a solar cell arrangement applied on a carrier film, wherein the photovoltaic component is arranged in the interior, the solar cell arrangement has a curvature, wherein the curvature follows the curved course of the inner surface of the tube at least in places and the solar cell arrangement at least partly covers the inner surface, wherein the covered inner surface forms a light passage surface of the photovoltaic module.

A solid-state imaging device according to the present disclosure includes a photoelectric conversion film that is provided outside a semiconductor substrate on a pixel-by-pixel basis, performs photoelectric conversion on light having a predetermined wavelength range, and transmits light having wavelength ranges other than the predetermined wavelength range, and a photoelectric conversion region that is provided inside the semiconductor substrate on a pixel-by-pixel basis and performs photoelectric conversion on the light having the wavelength ranges, the light having the wavelength ranges having passed through the photoelectric conversion film. The photoelectric conversion film includes a film having an avalanche function.