Systems and methods of three-terminal tandem solar cells are described. Three-terminal metal electrodes can be formed to contact subcells of the tandem solar cell. The three-terminal tandem cell can improve the device efficiency to at least 30%.

A device and method for fabricating a photovoltaic device includes forming a double layer transparent conductive oxide on a transparent substrate. The double layer transparent conductive oxide includes forming a doped electrode layer on the substrate, and forming a buffer layer on the doped electrode layer. The buffer layer includes an undoped or p-type doped intrinsic form of a same material as the doped electrode layer. A light-absorbing semiconductor structure includes a p-type semiconductor layer on the buffer layer, an intrinsic layer and an n-type semiconductor layer.

Tri-layer semiconductor stacks for patterning features on solar cells, and the resulting solar cells, are described herein. In an example, a solar cell includes a substrate. A semiconductor structure is disposed above the substrate. The semiconductor structure includes a P-type semiconductor layer disposed directly on a first semiconductor layer. A third semiconductor layer is disposed directly on the P-type semiconductor layer. An outermost edge of the third semiconductor layer is laterally recessed from an outermost edge of the first semiconductor layer by a width. An outermost edge of the P-type semiconductor layer is sloped from the outermost edge of the third semiconductor layer to the outermost edge of the third semiconductor layer. A conductive contact structure is electrically connected to the semiconductor structure.

Disclosed is a solar cell including a semiconductor substrate, and a dopant layer disposed over one surface of the semiconductor substrate and having a crystalline structure different from that of the semiconductor substrate, the dopant layer including a dopant. The dopant layer includes a plurality of semiconductor layers stacked one above another in a thickness direction thereof, and an interface layer interposed therebetween. The interface layer is an oxide layer having a higher concentration of oxygen than that in each of the plurality of semiconductor layers.

A process for growing nanowires or nanopyramids comprising: (I) providing a graphitic substrate and depositing AlGaN, InGaN, AlN or AlGa(In)N on said graphitic substrate at an elevated temperature to form a buffer layer or nanoscale nucleation islands of said compounds; (II) growing a plurality of semiconducting group III-V nanowires or nanopyramids, preferably III-nitride nanowires or nanopyramids, on the said buffer layer or nucleation islands on the graphitic substrate, preferably via MOVPE or MBE.

The production process according to the invention consists of a nanometric scale transformation of the crystalline silicon in a hybrid arrangement buried within the crystal lattice of a silicon wafer, to improve the efficiency of the conversion of light into electricity, by means of hot electrons. All the parameters, procedures and steps involved in manufacturing giant photoconversion cells have been tested and validated separately, by producing twenty series of test devices. An example of the technology consists of manufacturing a conventional crystalline silicon photovoltaic cell with a single collection junction and completing the device thus obtained by an amorphizing ion implantation followed by a post-implantation thermal treatment. The modulation of the crystal, specific to the giant photoconversion, is then carried out on a nanometric scale in a controlled manner to obtain SEGTONs and SEG-MATTER which are active both optically and electronically, together with the primary conversion of the host converter.

A crystalline silicon solar cell includes a gallium oxide layer in direct contact with a P-type silicon layer in the crystalline silicon solar cell. The gallium oxide layer is arranged on the P-type silicon layer of the crystalline silicon solar cell, negative charges of the gallium oxide layer are used to carry out chemical passivation and field passivation on a surface of the P-type silicon layer, and the number of dangling bonds and minority carriers of silicon atoms on the surface of the P-type silicon layer is reduced, so that a minority carrier recombination rate at the surface of the P-type silicon layer is reduced. In addition, the gallium oxide layer has a relatively wide band gap and an appropriate optical refractive index.

Provided are a solar cell having a good conversion efficiency in which damage to a p-n junction structure is prevented when an antireflection film is removed, and a method of manufacturing such a solar cell.

A method of coordinating wireless power transfer and data communication between a transmitter and a receiver comprising recognizing at the receiver that an energy store electrically coupled to the receiver requires an electrical charge, emitting from the receiver a beacon signal to the transmitter, the beacon signal including information about the receiver and a state of charge of the energy store, recognizing at the receiver first and second localization signals from the transmitter, establishing low-power and high-power laser beam connections between the receiver and the transmitter in response to the localization signals, and communicating further information via the low-power beam on a periodic basis while optical power is being transferred via the high-power beam. The low-power beam connection includes further information about the receiver and the state of charge of the energy store. Optical power is transferred from the transmitter to the receiver via the high-power beam.

Techniques for enhancing the absorption of photons in semiconductors with the use of microstructures are described. The microstructures, such as pillars and/or holes, effectively increase the effective absorption length resulting in a greater absorption of the photons. Using microstructures for absorption enhancement for silicon photodiodes and silicon avalanche photodiodes can result in bandwidths in excess of 10 Gb/s at photons with wavelengths of 850 nm, and with quantum efficiencies of approximately 90% or more.