A solar cell can include a silicon layer formed over a silicon substrate. The silicon layer can have a P-type doped region and an N-type doped region. Portions of the silicon layer can have a grain size larger than other portions of the silicon layer. For example, larger grains of the silicon layer formed within a depletion region between P-type and N-type doped regions can minimize recombination loss at the P-type and N-type doped region boundaries and improve solar cell efficiency.

An infrared device comprises a first mesa portion. The lateral surface of the first mesa portion includes a first lateral surface located on a side close to a bottom surface of the first mesa portion, a second lateral surface located above the first lateral surface, and a third lateral surface located above the second lateral surface. A first angle .sub.1 formed by the first lateral surface and one face of the substrate is 0.6 or more and less than 45, a second angle formed by the second lateral surface and one face of the substrate is 45 or more and 90 or less, and a third angle .sub.3 formed by a third lateral surface and one face of the substrate is 0.6 or more and less than 45. W.sub.3/W.sub.2 is 0.15 or more and W.sub.1/W.sub.2 is 0.2 or more and 3.0 or less.

An apparatus for generating electricity from solar radiation having a solar spectrum is provided. The apparatus includes a photovoltaic mirror comprising a plurality of photovoltaic cells, the photovoltaic mirror configured to separate the solar spectrum, absorb a first portion of the solar spectrum, and concentrate a second portion of the solar spectrum at a focus. The apparatus also includes an energy collector spaced from the photo-voltaic mirror and positioned at the focus, the energy collector configured for capturing the second portion of the solar spectrum.

A germanium optical receiver in which a dark current is small is achieved. The germanium optical receiver is formed of a p-type germanium layer, a non-doped i-type germanium layer, and an n-type germanium layer that are sequentially stacked on an upper surface of a p-type silicon core layer, a first cap layer made of silicon is formed on the side surface of the i-type germanium layer, and a second cap layer made of silicon is formed on the upper surface and side surface of the n-type germanium layer. The n-type germanium layer is doped with such an element as phosphorus or boron having a covalent bonding radius smaller than a covalent bonding radius of germanium.

Solar cells are obtained by singulating a non-rectangular solar cell wafer into a plurality of solar cells, in one embodiment a first solar cell having a surface area corresponding to at least 60% of the wafer surface area but less than 90% of the wafer surface area, and at least two second solar cells each having a surface area of less than 10% of the wafer surface area. Such a first solar cell can be connected in parallel with a plurality of the second solar cells, to establish a substantially rectangular subassembly, and such subassemblies can be combined into a larger solar cell assembly, which may be mounted on a support including other electrical components on the backside thereof, and attached to a small satellite (e.g., CubeSat) exterior surface, or deployable wing.

This disclosure relates to photovoltaic and photoelectrosynthetic cells, devices, methods of making and using the same.

This present invention provides a novel photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) comprising: a semi-insulating substrate, an anode formed on the upper surface of said semi-insulating substrate, a first n-type doped layer formed on the lower surface of said semi-insulating substrate, a p-type doped layer formed on said first n-type doped layer, a second n-type doped layer formed on said p-type doped layer, a cathode formed on said second n-type doped layer, several recesses facing towards said first n-type doped layer and vertically extending into a part of said first n-type doped layer, an insulating layer formed on said second n-type doped layer and on the walls and the bottoms of said recesses, a gate electrode consisting of two parts, one part of the which formed on said insulating layer on the walls and the bottoms of recesses, and the other part of the which formed on a part of the insulating layer on the second n-type doped layer for electrically connecting the part of the gate electrode on the recesses, wherein the cathode and the gate electrode are electrically isolated.

An optoelectronic component includes at least one inorganic optoelectronically active semiconductor component having an active region that emits or receives light during operation, and a sealing material directly applied by atomic layer deposition, wherein the semiconductor component is applied on a carrier, the carrier includes electrical connection layers, the semiconductor component electrically connects to one of the electrical connection layers via an electrical contact element, and the sealing material completely covers in a hermetically impermeable manner and directly contacts all exposed surfaces including sidewall and bottom surfaces of the semiconductor component and the electrical contact element and all exposed surfaces of the carrier apart from an electrical connection region of the carrier.

A photovoltaic solar cell comprises a nano-patterned substrate layer. A plurality of nano-windows are etched into an intermediate substrate layer to form the nano-patterned substrate layer. The nano-patterned substrate layer is positioned between an n-type semiconductor layer composed of an n-type semiconductor material and a p-type semiconductor layer composed of a p-type semiconductor material. Semiconductor material accumulates in the plurality of nano-windows, causing a plurality of heterojunctions to form between the n-type semiconductor layer and the p-type semiconductor layer.

The invention relates to an optoelectronic device and to the method for manufacturing same. The optoelectronic device (45), according to the invention includes, in particular: a semiconductor substrate (46) doped with a first type of conductivity; semiconductor contact pads (18) or a semiconductor layer on a surface (16) of the substrate which are/is respectively doped with a second type of conductivity that is the opposite of the first type; and semiconductor elements (24), each semiconductor element being in contact with a contact pad or with the layer.