Patent ID: 11870002
Assignee: FIRST SOLAR, INC.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 14:
15. A method of reactivating a dopant in a degraded photovoltaic device, the device having an absorber layer comprising a group II-VI p-type semiconductor material doped with an element from group IB, the method comprising:
disconnecting the photovoltaic device from a load to form an open circuit;
directing electromagnetic energy toward an energy side of the device, for a duration of up to 60 seconds, to heat at least a portion of the absorber layer of the photovoltaic device to a temperature in a range of 200 C to 1000 C and promote at least one dopant chemical reaction in the absorber layer; and
quenching the at least one dopant chemical reaction by ending the heating and allowing the absorber layer of the photovoltaic device to cool, whereby the absorber layer reaches a temperature below 100 C within 120 seconds after initiating the heating step,
wherein the absorber layer comprises cadmium and tellurium and is doped with copper and chlorine, and the heating promotes dissociation of Cli—CuCd complexes.