To provide a coating material capable of forming a solar cell module excellent in the weather resistance, the power generation efficiency and the design, a cover glass, a solar cell module comprising the cover glass, and an outer wall material for building. The cover glass of the present invention is a cover glass comprising a glass plate and a layer containing a fluorinated polymer having units based on a fluoroolefin, on at least one surface of the glass plate, which has an average visible reflectance of from 10 to 100%, and an average near infrared transmittance of from 20 to 100%.

A method of manufacturing an electronic component including a substrate is provided. The method includes generating a plasma remote from a sputter target, generating sputtered material from the sputter target using the plasma, and depositing the sputtered material on a substrate as a crystalline layer.

A wide band gap semiconductor NAND based neutron detection system includes a semiconductor layer comprising a wide band gap material with a neutron absorber material in the wide band gap material, and the semiconductor layer is the only layer of the wide band gap semiconductor NAND based neutron detection system fabricated with the neutron absorber material.

A solar cell of an embodiment includes: a substrate; an n-electrode; an n-type layer; a p-type light absorption layer which is a semiconductor of a Cu-based oxide; and a p-electrode. The n-electrode is disposed between the substrate and the n-type layer. The n-type layer is disposed between the n-electrode and the p-type light absorption layer. The p-type light absorption layer is disposed between the n-type layer and the p-electrode. The n-type layer is disposed closer to a light incident side than the p-type light absorption layer. The substrate is a single substrate included in the solar cell.

An integrated tandem solar cell includes a first solar cell including a rear electrode, a light absorption layer disposed on the rear electrode, and a buffer layer disposed on the light absorption layer; a recombination layer including a first transparent conductive layer disposed on the buffer layer; a nanoparticle layer that is transparent and conductive, that is disposed on the first transparent conductive layer, and that planarizes the first solar cell; and a second transparent conductive layer disposed on the nanoparticle layer; and a second solar cell that is a perovskite solar cell including a perovskite layer and that is disposed on and bonded to the second transparent conductive layer of the recombination layer. The recombination layer electrically joins the first and second solar cells and planarizes the first solar cell so that the second solar cell is uniformly deposited in all regions thereof.

Tandem solar cell configurations are provided where at least one of the cells is a metal chalcogenide cell. A four-terminal tandem solar cell configuration has two electrically independent solar cells stacked on each other. A two-terminal solar cell configuration has two electrically coupled solar cells (same current through both cells) stacked on each other. Carrier selective contacts can be used to make contact to the metal chalcogenide cell (s) to alleviate the troublesome Fermi level pinning issue. Carrier-selective contacts can also remove the need to provide doping of the metal chalcogenide. Doping of the metal chalcogenide can be provided by charge transfer. These two ideas can be practiced independently or together in any combination.

A method of forming a photovoltaic product with a plurality of photovoltaic cells is disclosed. The method comprises depositing a stack with first and second electrode layers (12, 16) and a photovoltaic layer (14) arranged in between. The method comprises partitioning the stack. The partitioning includes forming a trench (20) extending through the second electrode layer and the photovoltaic layer to expose the first electrode layer. The stack is first irradiated with a laser beam with a first spotsize and with a first wavelength for which the photovoltaic layer has a relatively high absorption coefficient as compared to that of the second electrode layer. The stack is then irradiated with a second laser beam with a second spotsize, greater than the first spotsize, and with a second wavelength for which the photovoltaic layer has a relatively low absorption coefficient as compared to that of the second electrode layer.

The present disclosure relates to a method of patterning a thin-film photovoltaic layer stack (20), the method comprising the steps of:—providing of a continuous layer stack (20), the layer stack (20) comprising a planar substrate (21), a first electrode layer (22) on the substrate (21) and a photovoltaic layer (24) on the electrode layer (22),—immersing the layer stack (20) into an electrically conductive solution (40),—applying a bias voltage between the electrolyte solution (40) and the first electrode layer (22) and—converting of a first material (51, 53) or a first material composition provided in at least a first portion (50, 52, 54) of the layer stack (20) into a first reaction product (56) by an electrochemical reaction, wherein the first reaction product (56) has an electrical conductivity that is lower than an electrical conductivity of the first material (51, 53) or first material composition, or—removing a first material (51, 53) or a first material composition provided in at least a first portion (50, 52, 54) of the layer stack (20) by an electrochemical reaction.

The present invention relates to a method for obtaining a photovoltaic CZTS thin-film solar cell including arranging a precursor solution, preparing a substrate, and depositing said precursor solution on said substrate.

The present invention provides methods to sputter deposit films comprising alkali metal compounds. At least one target comprising one or more alkali metal compounds and at least one metallic component is sputtered to form one or more corresponding sputtered films. The at least one target has an atomic ratio of the alkali metal compound to the at least one metallic component in the range from 15:85 to 85:15. The sputtered film(s) incorporating such alkali metal compounds are incorporated into a precursor structure also comprising one or more chalcogenide precursor films. The precursor structure is heated in the presence of at least one chalcogen to form a chalcogenide semiconductor. The resultant chalcogenide semiconductor comprises up to 2 atomic percent of alkali metal content, wherein at least a major portion of the alkali metal content of the resultant chalcogenide semiconductor is derived from the sputtered film(s) incorporating the alkali metal compound(s). The chalcogenide semiconductors are useful in microelectronic devices, including solar cells.