Provided are optical devices and systems fabricated, at least in part, via printing-based assembly and integration of device components. In specific embodiments the present invention provides light emitting systems, light collecting systems, light sensing systems and photovoltaic systems comprising printable semiconductor elements, including large area, high performance macroelectronic devices. Optical systems of the present invention comprise semiconductor elements assembled, organized and/or integrated with other device components via printing techniques that exhibit performance characteristics and functionality comparable to single crystalline semiconductor based devices fabricated using conventional high temperature processing methods. Optical systems of the present invention have device geometries and configurations, such as form factors, component densities, and component positions, accessed by printing that provide a range of useful device functionalities. Optical systems of the present invention include devices and device arrays exhibiting a range of useful physical and mechanical properties including flexibility, shapeability, conformability and stretchablity.

A semiconductor structure includes a thin-film device layer, an optoelectronic device disposed in the thin-film device layer, and a surrogate substrate permanently attached to the thin film device layer. The surrogate substrate is optically transparent and has a thermal conductivity of at least 300 W/m-K. The optoelectronic device excitable by visible light transmitted through the surrogate substrate. A method of fabricating the semiconductor structure includes fabricating the optoelectronic device in a device layer thin-film of SiC on a silicon wafer of a first diameter, transferring the device layer thin-film of SiC from the silicon wafer, and permanently bonding the device layer thin-film to a SiC surrogate substrate of a second diameter.

A solar cell including a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell; a metal contact layer over said sequence of layers; a permanent supporting substrate composed of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer utilizing a conductive polyimide binding resin disposed directly over said metal contact layer and permanently bonding thereto.

A three-dimensional thin-film semiconductor substrate with selective through-holes is provided. The substrate having an inverted pyramidal structure comprising selectively formed through-holes positioned between the front and back lateral surface planes of the semiconductor substrate to form a partially transparent three-dimensional thin-film semiconductor substrate.

Process for the transfer of a composite film onto a flexible polymer membrane in which the composite film comprises a matrix made of thermoplastic polymer and particles. This process comprises the following operations: 1) the movement of the membrane into a position in which it closes up, in a way leaktight to a fluid, an opening of a reservoir and a first zone of its front face is directly in contact on an external face of the composite film, 2) the heating of the composite film, so as to soften it, then 3) when the composite film is softened, a fluid inside the reservoir uniformly compresses the first zone against the external face of the composite film in order to adhesively bond this first zone to this external face, then 4) the movement of the membrane to a retracted position in order to separate, from the rigid substrate, the portion of the composite film adhesively bonded to the first zone.

The disclosure describes multi-junction solar cell structures that include two or more graded interlayers.

To eliminate electric discharge when an element formation layer including a semiconductor element is peeled from a substrate used for manufacturing the semiconductor element, a substrate over which an element formation layer and a peeling layer are formed and a film are made to go through a gap between pressurization rollers. The film is attached to the element formation layer between the pressurization rollers, bent along a curved surface of the pressurization roller on a side of the pressurization rollers, and collected. Peeling is generated between the element formation layer and the peeling layer and the element formation layer is transferred to the film. Liquid is sequentially supplied by a nozzle to a gap between the element formation layer and the peeling layer, which is generated by peeling, so that electric charge generated on surfaces of the element formation layer and the peeling layer is diffused by the liquid.

Disclosed herein are avalanche photodiodes (APDs) particularly useful for high-sensitivity Geiger-mode APDs formed using an array of micro-cells. The photodetector is formed on a semiconductor substrate of indium phosphide (InP) having epitaxial layers, including indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) as the photodetecting layer, with n-doped InP to one side, and layers of InP incorporating p-doped regions on the opposite side. The p-doped regions may serve to define an array of micro-cells, which may be arranged in a hexagonal pattern. A well may be etched through the epitaxial structures, allowing an electrode that contacts the n-doped InP layer and another that contacts the p-doped InP regions to be patterned on the same side of the detector. Flip-chip bonding techniques can then attach the semiconductor wafer to a stronger support substrate, which may additionally be configured with electronic circuitry positioned to electrically contact the electrodes on the semiconductor wafer surface.

A transparent conductive thin film and an electronic device including the same are disclosed, the transparent conductive thin film including a titanium nitride or a zirconium nitride having a heterometal element selected from zinc (Zn), gallium (Ga), indium (In), and a combination thereof.

A semifinished product of a multi-junction solar cell includes a first semiconductor body that is designed as a first partial solar cell and has a first band gap, a second semiconductor body that is designed as a second partial solar cell and has a second band gap. The first semiconductor body and the second semiconductor body form a bonded connection to a tunnel diode and the first band gap is different from the second band gap. A first substrate material is adapted as a substrate layer, wherein a sacrificial layer is formed between the first substrate material and the first partial solar cell and the first substrate material is removed from the first semiconductor body, the sacrificial layer being destroyed in the process.