Various perovskite solar cell embodiments include a flexible metal substrate (e.g., including a metal doped TiO.sub.2 layer), a perovskite layer, and a transparent electrode layer (e.g., including a dielectric/metal/dielectric structure), wherein the perovskite layer is provided between the flexible metal substrate and the transparent electrode layer. Also, various tandem solar cell embodiments including a perovskite solar cell and either a quantum dot solar cell, and organic solar cell or a thin film solar cell.

In a method for generating a textured surface of a semiconductor layer, a surface of the semiconductor layer is etched anisotropically with a first alkaline etching solution to generate a surface of the semiconductor layer including pyramid-shape textures. Subsequently, the surface including the pyramid-shaped textures is etched anisotropically with a second alkaline etching solution, which differs from the first alkaline etching solution, to cause material removal of the pyramid-shaped textures, thereby reducing a height difference between peaks and neighboring valleys of the pyramid-shaped textures. A method for manufacturing a tandem solar cell further includes generating a first solar cell structure of the tandem solar cell including the textured surface, and generating a second solar cell structure of the tandem solar cell on the side of the first solar cell structure on which the textured surface is arranged.

A method of making a CIGS/inorganic thin film tandem semiconductor device including the steps of depositing a textured buffer layer on an inexpensive substrate, depositing a metal-inorganic film from a eutectic alloy on the buffer layer, the metal being selected from a group of CIGS elements, and adding the remaining CIGS elements to the metal, thereby growing a CIGS film on the inorganic film for the tandem semiconductor device.

One embodiment of the invention can provide a system for fabricating a photovoltaic structure. During fabrication, the system can form a sacrificial layer on a first side of a Si substrate; load the Si substrate into a chemical vapor deposition tool, with the sacrificial layer in contact with a wafer carrier; and form a first doped Si layer on a second side of the Si substrate. The system subsequently can remove the sacrificial layer; load the Si substrate into a chemical vapor deposition tool, with the first doped Si layer facing a wafer carrier; and form a second doped Si layer on the first side of the Si substrate.

An energy conversion device comprises at least two thin film photovoltaic cells fabricated separately and joined by wafer bonding. The cells are arranged in a hierarchical stack of decreasing order of their energy bandgap from top to bottom. Each of the thin film cells has a thickness in the range from about 0.5 m to about 10 m. The photovoltaic cell stack is mounted upon a thick substrate composed of a material selected from silicon, glass, quartz, silica, alumina, ceramic, metal, graphite, and plastic. Each of the interfaces between the cells comprises a structure selected from a tunnel junction, a heterojunction, a transparent conducting oxide, and an alloying metal grid; and the top surface and/or the lower surface of the energy conversion device may contain light-trapping means.

Photovoltaic cells, methods for fabricating surface mount multijunction photovoltaic cells, methods for assembling solar panels, and solar panels comprising photovoltaic cells are disclosed. The surface mount multijunction photovoltaic cells include through-wafer-vias for interconnecting the front surface epitaxial layer to a contact pad on the back surface. The through-wafer-vias are formed using a wet etch process that removes semiconductor materials non-selectively without major differences in etch rates between heteroepitaxial III-V semiconductor layers.

A monolithic multiple solar cell includes at least three partial cells, with a semiconductor mirror placed between two partial cells. The aim of the invention is to improve the radiation stability of said solar cell. For this purpose, the semiconductor mirror has a high degree of reflection in at least one part of a spectral absorption area of the partial cell which is arranged above the semiconductor mirror and a high degree of transmission within the spectral absorption range of the partial cell arranged below the semiconductor mirror.

Photovoltaic devices including direct gap III-V absorber materials and operatively associated back structures enhance efficiency by enabling photon recycling. The back structures of the photovoltaic devices include wide bandgap III-V layers, highly doped (In)GaAs layers, patterned oxide layers and metal reflectors that directly contact the highly doped (In)GaAs layers through vias formed in the back structures. Localized ohmic contacts are formed in the back structures of the devices.

A monolithic multiple solar cell includes at least three partial cells, with a semiconductor mirror placed between two partial cells. The aim of the invention is to improve the radiation stability of said solar cell. For this purpose, the semiconductor mirror has a high degree of reflection in at least one part of a spectral absorption area of the partial cell which is arranged above the semiconductor mirror and a high degree of transmission within the spectral absorption range of the partial cell arranged below the semiconductor mirror.

Systems and methods for the conversion of energy of high-energy photons into electricity which utilize a series of materials with differing atomic charges to take advantage of the emission of a large multiplicity of electrons by a single high-energy photon via a cascade of Auger electron emissions. In one embodiment, a high-energy photon converter preferably includes a linearly layered nanometric-scaled wafer made up of layers of a first material sandwiched between layers of a second material having an atomic charge number differing from the atomic charge number of the first material. In other embodiments, the nanometric-scaled layers are configured in a tubular or shell-like configuration and/or include layers of a third insulator material.