A method for fabricating a photovoltaic device includes forming a polycrystalline absorber layer including CuZnSnS(Se) (CZTSSe) over a substrate. The absorber layer is rapid thermal annealed in a sealed chamber having elemental sulfur within the chamber. A sulfur content profile is graded in the absorber layer in accordance with a size of the elemental sulfur and an anneal temperature to provide a graduated bandgap profile for the absorber layer. Additional layers are formed on the absorber layer to complete the photovoltaic device.

A photovoltaic structure including an assembly of plural photovoltaic cells arranged side by side and electrically connected together, and an assembly encapsulating the plural photovoltaic cells. The encapsulating assembly and assembly of plural photovoltaic cells is situated between first and second layers, and a fixation layer situated between a circulable zone and a photovoltaic module, enabling adherence of the photovoltaic module to the circulable zone. The first layer includes at least one transparent polymer material and plural panels independent of each other, each panel situated facing at least one photovoltaic cell, to form a discontinuous front face of the photovoltaic module, and rigidity of the encapsulating assembly is defined by a Young's modulus of the encapsulation material greater than or equal to 75 MPa at ambient temperature and a thickness of the encapsulating assembly is between 0.4 and 1 mm.

A photovoltaic module including at least a transparent first layer forming a front face of the photovoltaic module to receive a light flux, an assembly of plural photovoltaic cells arranged side by side and connected together electrically, an assembly encapsulating the photovoltaic cells, and a second layer fo ming a rear face of the photovoltaic module. The encapsulating assembly and assembly of photovoltaic cells is located between the first and second layers. The first layer includes at least a transparent polymer material and plural plates independent from one another, each plate located opposite at least one photovoltaic cell, to form a discontinuous front face for the photovoltaic module. Rigidity of the encapsulating assembly is defined by a Young's modulus of the encapsulation material greater than or equal to 75 MPa at ambient temperature and a thickness of the encapsulating assembly is between 0.4 and 1 mm.

Disclosed are a solar cell and a method of manufacturing the same. The solar cell with a graphene-silicon quantum dot hybrid structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a hybrid structure including a silicon quantum dot layer, in which a silicon oxide layer includes a plurality of silicon quantum dots; a doped graphene layer formed on the silicon quantum dot layer, and an encapsulation layer formed on the doped graphene layer; and electrodes formed on upper and lower parts of the hybrid structure.

The invention relates to a method for producing a photovoltaic solar cell having at least one hetero-junction, including the following steps: A) providing a semiconductor substrate having base doping; B) producing a hetero-junction on at least one side of the semiconductor substrate, which hetero-junction has a doped hetero-junction layer and a dielectric tunnel layer arranged indirectly or directly between the hetero-junction layer and the semiconductor substrate; C) heating at least the hetero-junction layer in order to improve the electrical quality of the heterojunction. The invention is characterized in that, in a step D after step C, hydrogen is diffused into the hetero-junction layer and/or to the interface between the tunnel layer and the semiconductor substrate.

Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using ion implantation, and resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a method of fabricating alternating N-type and P-type emitter regions of a solar cell involves forming a silicon layer above a substrate. Dopant impurity atoms of a first conductivity type are implanted, through a first shadow mask, in the silicon layer to form first implanted regions and resulting in non-implanted regions of the silicon layer. Dopant impurity atoms of a second, opposite, conductivity type are implanted, through a second shadow mask, in portions of the non-implanted regions of the silicon layer to form second implanted regions and resulting in remaining non-implanted regions of the silicon layer. The remaining non-implanted regions of the silicon layer are removed with a selective etch process, while the first and second implanted regions of the silicon layer are annealed to form doped polycrystalline silicon emitter regions.

A composition for forming a passivation layer, comprising a compound represented by Formula (I): M(OR.sup.1).sub.m. In Formula (I), M comprises at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Nb, Ta, V, Y and Hf, each R.sup.1 independently represents an alkyl group having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms or an aryl group having from 6 to 14 carbon atoms, and m represents an integer from 1 to 5.

A method for texturing silicon includes loading a silicon wafer into a vacuum chamber, heating the silicon wafer and thermal cracking a gas to generate cracked sulfur species. The silicon wafer is exposed to the cracked sulfur species for a time duration in accordance with a texture characteristic needed for a surface of the silicon wafer.

A system for stabilizing and/or improving an efficiency of a solar cell having a front-side front contact and a rear-side rear contact. The system includes: an illumination unit that is designed to locally illuminate the solar cell; a voltage source having two contacting apparatuses, wherein one contacting apparatus is designed to be connected to the front contact of the solar cell, and the other contacting apparatus is designed to be connected to the rear contact of the solar cell in such a way that a current flow is induced in the reverse direction of the solar cell. The system also includes a heating apparatus which is designed and configured to heat the solar cell during a current flow induced in the reverse direction.

A solar cell can include a silicon semiconductor substrate; an oxide layer on a first surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate; a polysilicon layer on the oxide layer; a diffusion region at a second surface of the silicon semiconductor substrate; a dielectric film on the polysilicon layer; a first electrode connected to the polysilicon layer through the dielectric film; a passivation film on the diffusion region; and a second electrode connected to the diffusion region through the passivation film.