23 April 2015

Solar-Tectic awarded patent for low-temperature thin-film deposition on low-cost substrates

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued Solar-Tectic LLC of Briarcliff Manor, NY, USA with a major patent (with over 50 claims) for a wide range of technologies including the growth of single-crystal, highly textured or large-grained semiconductor films on inexpensive substrates, such as ordinary glass. 

Solar-Tectic is a thin-film specialist with a primary focus on developing single-crystal or highly textured semiconductor films on glass or other low-cost substrates such as metal tapes. Its technology was invented by the late Dr Praveen Chaudhari, winner of the 1995 US Medal of Technology and Innovation, and have applications in various industries such as solar, displays and LEDs.

US patent (12/774,465) 'Methods of Growing Heteroepitaxial Single Crystal or Large Grained Semiconductor Films and Devices Thereon' discloses a modified vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) thin-film (TF) growth technique that, for the first time, allows for low-temperature deposition of what is claimed to be exceptionally high-quality semiconductor films from a variety of materials such as silicon, germanium and gallium nitide (GaN) on inexpensive substrates.

Solar-Tectic says that the cost-effective nanowire-like but thin-film growth process involving eutectic alloys is well suited to large-scale industrial applications and can be carried out using existing commonly used deposition processes, such as e-beam, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) etc.  

See related items:

Solar-Tectic awarded US patent for single-crystal thin-film solar cell technology

Tags: Thin-film PV

Visit: www.solartecticllc.com