Monolithic tandem chalcopyrite-perovskite photovoltaic devices and techniques for formation thereof are provided. In one aspect, a tandem photovoltaic device is provided. The tandem photovoltaic device includes a substrate; a bottom solar cell on the substrate, the bottom solar cell having a first absorber layer that includes a chalcopyrite material; and a top solar cell monolithically integrated with the bottom solar cell, the top solar cell having a second absorber layer that includes a perovskite material. A monolithic tandem photovoltaic device and method of formation thereof are also provided.

A photovoltaic device (e.g., solar cell) includes: a front substrate (e.g., glass substrate); a semiconductor absorber film; a back contact including a first conductive layer of or including copper (Cu) and a second conductive layer of or including molybdenum (Mo); and a rear substrate (e.g., glass substrate). A selenium blocking layer is provided between at least the Cu inclusive layer and the Mo inclusive layer.

A stacked-layered thin film solar cell. The solar cell has reduced absorber thickness and an improved back contact for Copper Indium Gallium Selenide solar cells. The back contact provides improved reflectance particularly for infrared wavelengths while still maintaining ohmic contact to the semiconductor absorber. This reflectance is achieved by producing a back contact having a highly reflecting metal separated from an absorbing layer with a dielectric layer.

The present invention relates to a substrate for a thin film photovoltaic module, characterized in that it is a cementitious product with average surface roughness Ra not higher than 500 nm. The invention also relates to the cementitious product as such, the thin film photovoltaic module comprising it, and a method of moulding both of them.

In pixels that are two-dimensionally arranged in a matrix fashion in the pixel array unit of a solid-state imaging element, a photoelectric conversion film having a light shielding film buried therein is formed and stacked on the light incident side of the photodiode. The present technique can be applied to a CMOS image sensor compatible with the global shutter system, for example.

A solar cell apparatus according to the embodiment includes a support substrate including a plurality of patterns; a back electrode layer on the support substrate; a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; a buffer layer on the light absorbing layer; and a front electrode layer on the buffer layer, wherein the patterns are formed in an undercut structure including a first inner side surface, a second inner side surface and a bottom surface.

A method and apparatus for forming a crystalline cadmium stannate layer of a photovoltaic device by heating an amorphous layer in the presence of hydrogen gas.

A compositional range of high strain point and/or intermediate expansion coefficient alkali metal free aluminosilicate and boroaluminosilicate glasses are described herein. The glasses can be used as substrates or superstrates for photovoltaic devices, for example, thin film photovoltaic devices such as CdTe or CIGS photovoltaic devices or crystalline silicon wafer devices. These glasses can be characterized as having strain points 600 C., thermal expansion coefficient of from 35 to 5010.sup.7/ C.

A method is provided for fabricating a thin-film semiconductor device. The method includes providing a plurality of raw semiconductor materials. The raw semiconductor materials undergo a pre-reacting process to form a homogeneous compound semiconductor material. This pre-reaction typically includes processing above the liquidus temperature of the compound semiconductor. The compound semiconductor material is reduced to a particulate form and deposited onto a substrate to form a thin-film having a composition and atomic structure substantially the same as a composition and atomic structure of the compound semiconductor material.

Disclosed is a method of forming a CIGS-based thin film having high efficiency using a simple process at relatively low temperatures. The method includes an Ag thin film forming step and an ACIGS forming step of depositing Cu, In, Ga, and Se on the surface of the Ag thin film using a vacuum co-evaporation process. Ag, constituting the Ag thin film, is completely diffused, while Cu, In, Ga, and Se are deposited to form ACIGS together with Cu, In, Ga, and Se co-evaporated in a vacuum during the ACIGS forming step. The Ag thin film is formed and CIGS elements are then deposited using vacuum co-evaporation to form an ACIGS thin film having improved power generation efficiency at a relatively low temperature of 400 C. or less using only a single-stage vacuum co-evaporation process.