The present application provides a preparation method and application of a crystalline silicon solar cell having a shallow junction diffusion emitter. The preparation method comprises a diffusion process and a chain oxidation process, the diffusion process comprises low temperature diffusion and high temperature propulsion, and the chain oxidation process comprises high-temperature chain oxidation. According to the present application, firstly, a low-doped diffusion shallow junction having a depth of 0.15 um is prepared by means of optimization of the diffusion process, and doping with a certain dose concentration is formed on the surface of a diffusion layer by using photon thermal activation radiation energy of high-temperature chain oxidation, so as to solve the mismatch problem of alloy ohmic contact subsequently formed with silver paste, and finally, the photoelectric conversion efficiency is improved to a high degree.

A self-powered electronic system comprises a first chip (401) of single-crystalline semiconductor embedded in a second chip (302) of single-crystalline semiconductor shaped as a container bordered by ridges. The assembled chips are nested and form an electronic device assembled, in turn, in a slab of weakly p-doped low-grade silicon shaped as a container (330) bordered by ridges (331). The flat side (335) of the slab includes a heavily n-doped region (314) forming a pn-junction (315) with the p-type bulk. A metal-filled deep silicon via (350) through the p-type ridge (331) connects the n-region with the terminal (322) on the ridge surface as cathode of the photovoltaic cell with the p-region as anode. The voltage across the pn-junction serves as power source of the device.

Photovoltaic cells, photovoltaic devices, and methods of fabrication are provided. The photovoltaic cells include a transparent substrate to allow light to enter the photovoltaic cell through the substrate, and a light absorption layer associated with the substrate. The light absorption layer has opposite first and second surfaces, with the first surface being closer to the transparent substrate than the second surface. A passivation layer is disposed over the second surface of the light absorption layer, and a plurality of first discrete contacts and a plurality of second discrete contacts are provided within the passivation layer to facilitate electrical coupling to the light absorption layer. A first electrode and a second electrode are disposed over the passivation layer to contact the plurality of first discrete contacts and the plurality of second discrete contacts, respectively. The first and second electrodes include a photon-reflective material.

Methods are provided for fabricating photovoltaic cell contacts, which include: providing a block copolymer layer above an electrical contact layer of the photovoltaic cell, the block copolymer layer being self-assembled by phase segregation to include multiple structures of a first polymer material surrounded, at least in part, by a second polymer material; selectively etching the block copolymer layer to remove the multiple structures, forming holes in the block copolymer layer; and using the holes in the block copolymer layer to facilitate providing electrical contacts between a light absorption layer of the photovoltaic cell and the electrical contact layer. For instance, the holes in the copolymer layer may be used in etching a passivation layer over the electrical contact layer to form nano-sized contact openings in the passivation layer to the contact layer. Once provided, the cell's light absorption material forms contacts extending through the contact openings in the passivation layer.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenides have emerged as a promising material system for optoelectronic applications, but their primary figure-of-merit, the room-temperature photoluminescence quantum yield (QY) is extremely poor. The prototypical 2D material, MoS.sub.2 is reported to have a maximum QY of 0.6% which indicates a considerable defect density. We report on an air-stable solution-based chemical treatment by an organic superacid which uniformly enhances the photoluminescence and minority carrier lifetime of MoS.sub.2 monolayers by over two orders of magnitude. The treatment eliminates defect-mediated non-radiative recombination, thus resulting in a final QY of over 95% with a longest observed lifetime of 10.80.6 nanoseconds. Obtaining perfect optoelectronic monolayers opens the door for highly efficient light emitting diodes, lasers, and solar cells based on 2D materials.

One embodiment of the invention can provide a system for fabricating a photovoltaic structure. During fabrication, the system can form a sacrificial layer on a first side of a Si substrate; load the Si substrate into a chemical vapor deposition tool, with the sacrificial layer in contact with a wafer carrier; and form a first doped Si layer on a second side of the Si substrate. The system subsequently can remove the sacrificial layer; load the Si substrate into a chemical vapor deposition tool, with the first doped Si layer facing a wafer carrier; and form a second doped Si layer on the first side of the Si substrate.

BSI image sensors and methods. In an embodiment, a substrate is provided having a sensor array and a periphery region and having a front side and a back side surface; a bottom anti-reflective coating (BARC) is formed over the back side to a first thickness, over the sensor array region and the periphery region; forming a first dielectric layer over the BARC; a metal shield is formed; selectively removing the metal shield from over the sensor array region; selectively removing the first dielectric layer from over the sensor array region, wherein a portion of the first thickness of the BARC is also removed and a remainder of the first thickness of the BARC remains during the process of selectively removing the first dielectric layer; forming a second dielectric layer over the remainder of the BARC and over the metal shield; and forming a passivation layer over the second dielectric layer.

The present disclosure provides a method for recovering the efficacy of solar cell modules and a device thereof. The method includes providing a solar cell module and scanning the solar cell module with a light-beam. The light-beam has a power density between 20 W/cm.sup.2 and 200 W/cm.sup.2, a width between 1 mm and 156 mm. The light-beam scans a solar cell module with a scanning speed between 50 mm/sec and 200 mm/sec. Furthermore, the present disclosure also provides a portable device for recovering the efficacy of solar cell modules. The portable device includes two types such as placed type and hand-held type. The aforementioned devices can perform a hydrogenating process on solar cell modules to improve the degree of light-induced degradation (LID) so as to improve the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of solar cell modules.

In various embodiments, photovoltaic devices incorporate discontinuous passivation layers (i) disposed between a thin-film absorber layer and a partner layer, (ii) disposed between the partner layer and a front contact layer, and/or (iii) disposed between a back contact layer and the thin-film absorber layer.

A light absorption apparatus includes a substrate, a light absorption layer above the substrate on a first selected area, a silicon layer above the light absorption layer, a spacer surrounding at least part of the sidewall of the light absorption layer, an isolation layer surrounding at least part of the spacer, wherein the light absorption apparatus can achieve high bandwidth and low dark current.