Growth substrates for inverted metamorphic multijunction solar cells

US7785989B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Emcore Solar Power, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Paul R. Sharps · Albuquerque, US
• Arthur Cornfeld · Sandia Park, US
• Tansen Varghese · Regensburg, DE
• Fred Newman · Albuquerque, US
• Jacqueline Diaz · Albuquerque, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 17, 2008
• Grant date: Aug 31, 2010
• Expiry date: Jan 16, 2029

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S438/977

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a solar cell by providing a gallium arsenide carrier with a prepared bonding surface; providing a sapphire substrate; bonding the gallium arsenide carrier and the sapphire substrate to produce a composite structure; detaching the bulk of the gallium arsenide carrier from the composite structure, leaving a gallium arsenide growth substrate on the sapphire substrate; and depositing a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell on the growth substrate. For some solar cells, the method further includes mounting a surrogate second substrate on top of the sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell; and removing the growth substrate.