Patent ID: 8753912
Filing Date: 2014-06-17
Classification: H01L,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method for fabricating a solar cell, comprising the steps of: providing a doped substrate; depositing a monolayer of spheres onto the substrate, the spheres comprising nanospheres, microspheres or a combination thereof; trimming the spheres to introduce space between individual spheres in the monolayer; using the trimmed spheres as a mask to pattern wires in the substrate, the wires comprising nanowires, microwires or a combination thereof; forming a doped emitter layer on the patterned wires, wherein the emitter layer is formed from a different, higher bandgap, material than the substrate and the wires such that a heterojunction is formed therebetween, and wherein the emitter layer, which is transparent to light and serves as a window emitter layer, is formed as a conformal layer covering all exposed surfaces of the wires and a top surface of the substrate; wherein the top contact electrode comprises a conformal layer deposited over the emitter layer and surrounding each of the wires; and depositing a bottom contact electrode on a side of the substrate opposite the wires.