Application US20190044008 Solar Thin Film Photovoltaics

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Application US20190044008

Published 2019-02-07

Self-assembly Patterning For Fabricating Thin-film Devices

A method (200) for fabricating patterns on the surface of a layer of a device (100), the method comprising: providing at least one layer (130, 230); adding at least one alkali metal (235) comprising Cs and/or Rb; controlling the temperature (2300) of the at least one layer, thereby forming a plurality of self-assembled, regularly spaced, parallel lines of alkali compound embossings (1300, 1305) at the surface of the layer. The method further comprises forming cavities (236, 1300) by dissolving the alkali compound embossings. The method (200) is advantageous for nanopatterning of devices (100) without using templates and for the production of high efficiency optoelectronic thin-film devices (100).

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17 Independent Claims

1. A method (200) for fabricating patterns on the surface of a layer of a device (100), the method comprising: providing at least one layer (130, 230); adding at least one alkali metal (235) comprising Cs and/or Rb; controlling the temperature of the at least one layer, thereby forming a plurality of embossings (1300, 1305) at the surface of the at least one layer, at least a portion of the plurality of embossings resulting from a self-assembly process comprising: the forming of a plurality of alkali crystal compounds (1320) including compounds of Cs and/or Rb from said at least one alkali metal, the self-assembling and the embedding of the alkali crystal compounds (1320) into the surface of the at least one layer, thereby forming at least a first line (1340) of regularly spaced embossings (1300, 1305) that is adjacent and parallel to at least a second line (1340) of regularly spaced embossings (1300, 1305) within at least one region (135) of the at least one layer.
3. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the step of adding at least one alkali metal (235) also comprises adding at least one element in group 16 of the periodic table including S, Se, and Te.
4. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the at least one layer (130) comprises an ABC chalcogenide material, including ABC chalcogenide material quaternary, pentanary, or multinary variations, wherein A represents elements of group 11 of the periodic table of chemical elements as defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry including Cu and Ag, B represents elements in group 13 of the periodic table including In, Ga, and Al, and C represents elements in group 16 of the periodic table including S, Se, and Te.
5. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the at least one layer (130) comprises Cu(In,Ga)Se₂.
6. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the step of controlling the temperature comprises controlling the temperature between a range from about 250° C. to about 380° C., preferably between a range from about 300° C. to about 370° C.
7. The method according to any preceding claim further comprising coating at least a portion of the at least one layer (130) with a functional layer (1350).
8. The method according to any preceding claim further comprising a step of forming at least one cavity (236, 1300) by dissolving at least a portion of at least one of the alkali crystal compounds (1320) comprising Cs and/or Rb, said forming step comprising, on at least a portion of a layer surface (130, 1350) where at least a portion of at least one of the alkali crystal compounds (1320) is exposed, at least one of the steps of: forming at least one buffer layer (240); treating the layer surface (238) by adding oxidation state +1/+2 elements to the layer surface (130, 1350); aqueous wetting (237) with a solution comprising water; aqueous wetting (237) with a diluted aqueous ammonia solution with a diluted ammonia molarity in the range from 0 to 20 M, preferably in the range from about 1 M to 10 M, more preferably in the range from about 2 M to 4 M.
9. The method according to any preceding claim further comprising a step of filling at least a portion of the at least one cavity (1300) by forming a filler layer (260) onto at least one cavity.
10. The method according to any preceding claim wherein said layer (130) is delivered between a delivery roll (820) and a take-up roll (822) of a roll-to-roll manufacturing apparatus (800).
11. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the long axis (1341) of at least one embossing (1300, 1305) in at least one line (1340) of regularly spaced embossings is collinear or approximately collinear with said at least one line.
12. The method according to any preceding claim wherein at least one line (1340) of regularly spaced embossings is embossed along at least one crystal striation (1350) of at least one region (135) of the surface of the at least one layer (130).
13. The method according to any preceding claim wherein at least one region (135) is comprised on a surface of a crystal at the surface of the at least one layer (130).
14. The method according to any preceding claim wherein at least one embossing (1300) is comprised in the at least one layer (130) and at least one functional layer (1380).
15. The method according to any preceding claim wherein at least one embossing (1300) has the shape of a cavity in at least one layer (130, 1380).
17. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the at least one layer (130) comprises a reacted layer (1310).
18. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the device (100) is a thin-film optoelectronic device.
19. The method according to any preceding claim wherein the device (100) comprises a flexible substrate (110).