Carbon nanotube-based solar cells and equipment forming solar cells

The utility model relates to carbon nanotube-based solar cells and equipment forming the solar cells. The solar cell are provided with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) which are used to define a micron/sub-micron geometry of the solar cell and/or as charge transporters for efficiently removing charge carriers from the absorber layer to reduce the rate of electron-hole recombination in the absorber layer. A solar cell may comprises a substrate, a multiplicity of areas of metal catalyst on the surface of the substrate, a multiplicity of carbon nanotube bundles formed on the multiplicity of areas of metal catalyst, each bundle including carbon nanotubes aligned roughly perpendicular to the surface of the substrate, and a photoactive solar cell layer formed over the carbon nanotube bundles and exposed surfaces of the substrate, wherein the photoactive solar cell layer is continuous over the carbon nanotube bundles and the exposed surfaces of the substrate. The photoactive solar cell layer may comprise amorphous silicon p/