Disclosed are a solar cell and a method of fabricating the solar cell. The solar cell includes a back electrode layer; a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; and a buffer layer on the light absorbing layer, wherein the buffer layer includes a first buffer layer, a second buffer layer on the first buffer layer and a third buffer layer on the second buffer layer, and wherein the first buffer layer includes a group I-VI compound. A method of fabricating a solar cell includes the steps of: forming a back electrode layer on a substrate; forming a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; forming a second buffer layer on the light absorbing layer including selenium; and forming a third buffer layer including sulfide on the second buffer layer.

A method of manufacturing a photovoltaic device may include concurrently transforming a transparent conductive oxide layer from a substantially amorphous state to a substantially crystalline state and forming one or more semiconductor layers.

An apparatus and method pertaining to a perpetual energy harvester. The harvester absorbs ambient infrared radiation and provides continual power regardless of the environment. The device seeks to harvest the largely overlooked blackbody radiation through use of a semiconductor thermal harvester.

The present invention concerns a method for the manufacture of the first layer of a back contact layer for thin-layer solar cells in superstrate configuration. In the prior art, this layer is deposited as a compound, for example as a layer of Sb.sub.2Te.sub.3. In accordance with the invention, however, a tellurium-rich surface layer of the cadmium telluride layer is produced, on which a first material is deposited which is capable of forming an electrically conductive second material with tellurium and of producing the second material by reaction of the first material and tellurium in the surface layer. The second material forms the first layer of the back contact layer.

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.

Disclosed is a photovoltaic device comprising a substrate composed of an oriented polycrystalline zinc oxide sintered body in a plate shape, a photovoltaic layer provided on the substrate, and an electrode provided on the photovoltaic layer. According to the present invention, a photovoltaic device having high photoelectric conversion efficiency can be inexpensively provided.

Methods for doping an absorbent layer of a p-n heterojunction in a thin film photovoltaic device are provided. The method can include depositing a window layer on a transparent substrate, where the window layer includes at least one dopant (e.g,. copper). A p-n heterojunction can be formed on the window layer, with the p-n heterojunction including a photovoltaic material (e.g., cadmium telluride) in an absorber layer. The dopant can then be diffused from the window layer into the absorber layer (e.g., via annealing).

Disclosed is a solar cell including a substrate, an electrode layer disposed on the substrate, a p-type light-absorption layer disposed on the electrode layer, an n-type ZnS layer disposed on the p-type light-absorption layer, and a transparent electrode layer disposed on the n-type ZnS layer. The substrate can be immersed into an acidic solution of zinc salt, chelate, and thioacetamide, thereby forming the n-type ZnS layer on the substrate.

Described herein is a method of using the buffer layer of a transparent conductive substrate as a dopant source for the n-type window layer of a photovoltaic device. The dopant source of the buffer layer distributes to the window layer of the photovoltaic device during semiconductor processing. Described herein are also methods of manufacturing embodiments of the substrate structure and photovoltaic device. Disclosed embodiments also describe a photovoltaic module and a photovoltaic structure with a plurality of photovoltaic devices having an embodiment of the substrate structure.

A method is disclosed for doping a semiconductor material comprising the steps of providing a semiconductor material having a first and a second surface. A dopant precursor is applied on the first surface of the semiconductor material. A thermal energy beam is directed onto the second surface of the semiconductor material to pass through the semiconductor material and impinge upon the dopant precursor to dope the semiconductor material thereby.