Patents
US 12610648 B2: Thin-film crystalline silicon solar cell using a nanoimprinted photonic-plasmonic back-reflector structure
- Granted
- 2026-04-21
- Filed
- 2024-11-07 application 18940465
- Type
- Utility · 20 claims
- Elsewhere
- Google Patents ↗ · USPTO patent document ↗ · USPTO Patent Center record ↗
Abstract
Disclosed are embodiments of a thin-film photovoltaic technology including a single-junction crystalline silicon solar cell with a photonic-plasmonic back-reflector structure for lightweight, flexible energy conversion applications. The back-reflector enables high absorption for long-wavelength and near-infrared photons via diffraction and light-concentration, implemented by periodic texturing of the bottom-contact layer by nanoimprint lithography. The thin-film crystalline silicon solar cell is implemented in a heterojunction design with amorphous silicon, where plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is used for all device layers, including a low-temperature crystalline silicon deposition step. Excimer laser crystallization is used to integrate crystalline and amorphous silicon within a monolithic process, where a thin layer of amorphous silicon is converted to a crystalline silicon seed layer prior to deposition of a crystalline silicon absorber layer via PECVD. The crystalline nature of the absorber layer and the back-reflector enable efficiencies higher than what is achievable in other thin-film silicon devices.
Source: PTBLXML, file of 2026-04-21 (ipgb20260421.xml).
Assignees
| Assignee | Type | Place | Also on furp.org | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Integrated Energy, Inc. 5 patents | US company or organization | San Diego, CA | Pacific Integrated Energy, Inc. Form D issuer EXACT high confidence: identical full name and state | PTBLXML, file of 2026-04-21 |
| Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc. 581 patents | US company or organization | Ames, IA | PTBLXML, file of 2026-04-21 |
Inventors
| Inventor | Place | Patents | Person page | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vikram Dalal | Ames, IA | PTBLXML, file of 2026-04-21 | ||
| David Keogh | San Diego, CA | 13 | PTBLXML, file of 2026-04-21 |
CPC categories
| Subclass | Category | First group | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| H10F | Inorganic semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation | H10F71/121 | PTBLXML, file of 2026-04-21 |
Cooperative Patent Classification, as currently assigned (one row per subclass).
Assignments and security interests
| Recorded | What | From | To | Reel/frame | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-11-08 | Assignment Assignment of assignor's interest | DALAL, VIKRAM L. signed 2022-06-06 | IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC. AMES, IA | 69214/747 | PASDL, file of 2026-10-15 |
| 2024-11-08 | Assignment Assignment of assignor's interest | KEOGH, DAVID signed 2022-05-26 | PACIFIC INTEGRATED ENERGY, INC. SAN DIEGO, CA | 69213/731 | PASDL, file of 2026-10-15 |
Documents recorded with the USPTO Assignment Recordation Branch that list this patent. A security interest is a lender’s claim on the patent as collateral; a release ends it.
USPTO bulk data: PatentsView granted patents, disambiguated (PVGPATDIS) for patents, assignees, inventors, places and CPC categories; the USPTO Patent Assignment Dataset (ECORSEXC) for assignments and security interests. Patents filed in the last 20 years. No claims or full text. Links to other records are by name (and state): EXACT means the identical full name and state; FUZZY means a looser name match, with the confidence shown.