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Technology Stocks : Energy Conversion Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: alfranco who wrote (7671)	5/9/2004 7:00:03 PM
From: alfranco	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8393

Coordinatively irregular structures This is a very broad patent IMO, which may bear on why it took 2 1/2 years for the reviewers to grant it (and also brings a new word to the language- coordinatively - hmmmm?). I think it gives us a glimpse of future PV design from ECD, a sort of theoretical roadmap. Reading it without images (quicktime didn't work for me, alas) leaves even more to my imagination ;-) This patent claims a new semiconductor material with great latitude in how Co-ir structures can be formulated, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in homogeneous or heterogeneous Co-ir structures all of which can be incorporated, or not I suppose, in a matrix of more conventional silicon, e.g. amorphous, microcrystalline, etc. When Stan talks to us, I think he sometimes shares his vision for the future without necessarily cautioning us about the long timeline for realization and application of his vision. That is why when he said 'increased throughput and efficiency" I noted he didn't specify how nor when. So for now this patent is a flag that ECD has planted on the frontier of the intellectual property map IMO. What I'll be looking for, with no specific timeline, are followup patents to this where ECD outlines more specific formulations and processes for Co-ir structures production and at that point I'll start to think about this landing inside a production machine. I'm appending a few quotes from this long patent below for those who might be interested. On a different note, as Dave Meldrum reported the machine's stabilized output at 8.1-8.2% (delta 5%) I take that as a gaussian curve of output solar cell sampling with median at 8.1-8.2% +/- 5% and if it is that tight then I expect a rerating of our panels (lo, with greater attendant revenues) with the US 64 becoming US 68 or US 70. Keeping my fingers crossed on that as a possible near-term boon. Al From patent 6723421: “The present inventors have recognized that the partially relaxed state of order and the preponderance of coordinatively unsaturated silicon atoms in the sub-coalescent structures of the present invention constitute a unique phase of matter.” “The present inventors believe that the sub-coalescent structures of the present invention can be treated with a plasma to produce the stabilized sub-coalescent structures that will be referred to as coordinatively irregular structures.” “The ability to separately tailor the electronic properties of the constituent coordinatively irregular structures provides tremendous latitude in designing and producing semiconductor materials with novel electronic properties. The present invention permits control of the chemical bonding, structural distortions, state of order and hence, the bandgap and other electronic properties of semiconductor materials. Whereas the electronic properties of single crystalline and amorphous silicon are well established, the electronic properties of the coordinatively irregular structures of the present invention are new and unpredictable. Such structures represent a new phase of matter with previously unrealized chemical bonding not properly characterized as ordered as in crystalline silicon or disordered as in amorphous silicon. As a result, the assemblage of coordinatively irregular structures into a semiconductor body provides an opportunity to quantum mechanically mix the electronic properties of single crystalline and amorphous silicon in counterintuitive ways to create a fundamentally new type of non-single crystalline material with unique and unexpected properties. With this invention, for example, it is possible to prepare non-single crystalline silicon-based semiconductor material that does not include a bandgap narrowing element, with sufficient absorption in the red and near-infrared to render it useful as a long wavelength solar energy absorbing material.” “The present invention further provides for the preparation of composite materials comprised of coordinatively irregular structures incorporated in an amorphous, crystalline, microcrystalline or polycrystalline matrix.” “The experimental data obtained by the present inventors show that by varying the durations of the formation and treatment steps, it is possible to produce non-single crystalline silicon materials with different states of order and a different distribution of coordinatively irregular structures.” “The ability to control the size and spatial distribution of coordinatively irregular structures provides an opportunity to systematically vary the structural order, coordination properties and bonding configuration of non-single crystalline silicon materials and to thereby realize the unique and unexpected electronic properties available from coorinatively irregular structures. The material made available by this invention is a fundamentally new type of material capable of providing the rational design of electronic properties through the controlled formation of coordinatively irregular structures.”