| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 438058000 | Gettering of substrate | 31 |
| 20090253225 | METHOD OF PROCESSING A SEMICONDUCTOR SUBSTRATE BY THERMAL ACTIVATION OF LIGHT ELEMENTS - Method of processing a substrate containing at least one semiconductor of the Si | 10-08-2009 |
| 20090269875 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTOELECTRIC CONVERSION DEVICE - An embrittlement layer is formed in the single crystal semiconductor substrate and a first impurity semiconductor layer, a first electrode, and an insulating layer are formed on one surface of the single crystal semiconductor substrate. After attaching the insulating layer and a supporting substrate to each other to bond the single crystal semiconductor substrate and the supporting substrate, the single crystal semiconductor substrate is separated along the embrittlement layer to form a stack including a first single crystal semiconductor layer. A first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer are formed over the first single crystal semiconductor layer. A second single crystal semiconductor layer is formed by solid phase growth. A second impurity semiconductor layer having a conductivity type opposite to that of the first impurity semiconductor layer is formed on the second single crystal semiconductor layer. A second electrode is formed on the second impurity semiconductor layer. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20100041175 | METHOD OF PURIFYING A CRYSTALLINE SILICON SUBSTRATE AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL - The invention relates to a method of purifying a crystalline silicon substrate and to a process for producing a photovoltaic cell. The method of purifying a crystalline silicon substrate according to the invention is of the type that includes a step of extracting impurities by external gettering and which includes, before said step of extracting the impurities by external gettering, at least one step of rapidly annealing the substrate at a temperature of between 750° C. and 1000° C. inclusive for a time of between 1 second and 10 minutes inclusive. The invention is particularly applicable in the photovoltaic cell field. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100047952 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTOELECTRIC CONVERSION DEVICE - A fragile layer is formed in a single crystal silicon substrate, a first impurity silicon layer is formed on the one surface side in the single crystal silicon substrate, and a first electrode is formed thereover. After one surface of a supporting substrate and the first electrode are bonded, the single crystal silicon substrate is separated along the fragile layer to form a single crystal silicon layer over the supporting substrate. Crystal defect repair treatment or crystal defect elimination treatment of the single crystal silicon layer is performed; then, epitaxial growth is conducted on the single crystal silicon layer by activating a source gas containing at least a silane-based gas with plasma generated at atmospheric pressure or near atmospheric pressure. A second impurity silicon layer is formed on a surface side in the single crystal silicon layer which is epitaxial grown. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100047953 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING WAFER FOR BACKSIDE ILLUMINATION TYPE SOLID IMAGING DEVICE - In the production of a wafer for backside illumination type solid imaging device having a plurality of pixels inclusive of a photoelectric conversion device and a charge transfer transistor formed at its front surface side and a light receiving surface at its back surface side, an active layer made of a given epitaxial film is formed on a silicon wafer made of a C-containing CZ crystal directly or through an insulating film, and then subjected to a heat treatment to form precipitates containing C and O as a gettering sink at a position just beneath the active layer. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100087025 | METHOD FOR DEFECT ISOLATION OF THIN-FILM SOLAR CELL - This invention discloses a defect isolation method for thin-film solar cell having at least a defect therein. The thin-film solar cell comprises a substrate, a front electrode layer, an absorber layer and a back electrode layer stacked in such a sequence. The defect isolation method includes the steps of: detecting at least a defect formed in thin-film solar cell and acquiring the positions of the defects, and applying a laser light to scribe the outer circumference of the defects according to the positions of the defects so as to form at least an isolation groove having a closed-curve configuration. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100093126 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A POLY-CRYSTAL SILICON PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE USING HORIZONTAL METAL INDUCED CRYSTALLIZATION - A method for manufacturing a poly-crystal silicon photovoltaic device using horizontal metal induced crystallization comprises the steps of forming at least one layer of an amorphous silicon thin film on a substrate, forming at least one groove of which depth is less than or equal to that of the thin film on the amorphous silicon thin film, and horizontally crystallizing the amorphous silicon thin film by forming a metal layer on an upper portion of the groove. Since a crystal shape and a growth direction of the photovoltaic device can be adjusted by the method, a poly-crystal silicon thin film for improving current flow can be formed at a low-temperature. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20100216274 | Tandem solar cell including an amorphous silicon carbide layer and a multi-crystalline silicon layer - A method for making a tandem solar cell includes the steps of providing a ceramic substrate, providing a titanium-based layer on the ceramic substrate, providing an n | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100240165 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - A manufacturing method of a polycrystalline solar cell is disclosed. A polycrystalline silicon solar cell in accordance with the present invention performs crystallization-annealing amorphous silicon with a metal catalyst so as to reduce a crystallization temperature. The manufacturing method of a solar cell in accordance with the present invention includes the steps of (a) forming a first amorphous silicon layer on a substrate; (b) forming a second amorphous silicon layer on the first amorphous silicon layer; (c) forming a metal layer on the second amorphous silicon layer; (d) performing crystallization-annealing the second amorphous silicon layer; and (e) forming a third amorphous silicon layer on a resulting crystalline silicon layer of the step (d). | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100261302 | DRY CLEANING OF SILICON SURFACE FOR SOLAR CELL APPLICATIONS - A method and apparatus for cleaning layers of solar cell substrates is disclosed. The substrate is exposed to a reactive gas that may comprise neutral radicals comprising nitrogen and fluorine, or that may comprise anhydrous HF and water, alcohol, or a mixture of water and alcohol. The reactive gas may further comprise a carrier gas. The reactive gas etches the solar cell substrate surface, removing oxygen and other impurities. When exposed to the neutral radicals, the substrate grows a thin film containing ammonium hexafluorosilicate, which is subsequently removed by heat treatment. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100267184 | Methods of manufacturing image sensors including gettering regions - Method of manufacturing image sensors having a plurality of gettering regions. In the method, a gate electrode may be formed on a semiconductor substrate. A source/drain region may be formed in the semiconductor substrate to be overlapped with the gate electrode. A gettering region may be formed in the semiconductor substrate to be adjacent to the source/drain region. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20100311199 | METHOD OF PRODUCING EPITAXIAL SUBSTRATE FOR SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE - A method of producing an epitaxial substrate for a solid-state imaging device, comprising: forming a gettering sink by injecting laser beam to a semiconductor substrate through one surface thereof, condensing the laser beam to an arbitrarily selected portion of the semiconductor substrate, thereby causing multi-photon absorption process to occur in the portion, and forming a gettering sink having a modified crystal structure; and epitaxially growing at least two epitaxial layers on the semiconductor substrate in which the gettering sink is formed. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20110053305 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, CAMERA AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SOLID-STAE IMAGING DEVICE - Producing a solid-state imaging device by (1) forming a structure including (a) a substrate having a first impurity with a first concentration, (b) a first conductive type Si layer and (c) a first conductive type impurity layer stacked on one another in that order, the first conductive type Si layer being formed on the substrate, the first conductive type impurity layer being formed in a boundary region including a boundary of the substrate and the Si layer, and a part of the substrate facing the boundary and a part of the first conductive type Si layer facing the boundary having a second impurity; and (2) forming in the Si layer a second conductive type region capable of storing in the Si layer a charge generated by a photoelectric conversion; and forming an interconnection layer on the Si layer. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110136287 | ANNEALING OF SEMI-INSULATING CdZnTe CRYSTALS - In a method of annealing a Cd | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110143480 | MICROWAVE ANNEAL OF A THIN LAMINA FOR USE IN A PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL - A cleave plane is defined in a semiconductor donor body by implanting ions into the wafer. A lamina is cleaved from the donor body, and a photovoltaic cell is formed which comprises the lamina. The implant may cause some damage to the crystal structure of the lamina. This damage can be repaired by annealing the lamina using microwave energy. If the lamina is bonded to a receiver element, the receiver element may be either transparent to microwaves, or may reflect microwaves, while the semiconductor material absorbs the microwaves. In this way the lamina can be annealed at high temperature while the receiver element remains cooler. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110189805 | METHOD OF PRODUCING SILICON WAFER, EPITAXIAL WAFER AND SOLID STATE IMAGE SENSOR, AND DEVICE FOR PRODUCING SILICON WAFER - An object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing a silicon wafer and a method of producing an epitaxial wafer, which enable easily forming a gettering site in a relatively short period of time and effectively suppressing occurrence of dislocation induced by internal stresses. Specifically, the present invention provides a method of producing a silicon wafer, comprising: irradiating a first laser beam having a relatively long wavelength and a second laser beam having a relatively short wavelength onto a portion of a silicon wafer located at a predetermined depth measured from a surface of the silicon wafer, wherein the first laser beam is concentrated at a portion located at a predetermined depth of the wafer to form a process-affected layer for gettering heavy metals thereat, the second laser beam is concentrated at a beam-concentration portion in the vicinity of the surface of the wafer to melt the beam-concentration portion, the beam-concentration portion is then recrystallized. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20120322192 | METHOD OF DEFECT REDUCTION IN ION IMPLANTED SOLAR CELL STRUCTURES - An improved solar cell is disclosed. To create the internal p-n junction, one surface of the substrate is implanted with ions. After the implantation, the substrate is thermally treated. The thermal process distributes the dopant throughout the substrate, while repairing crystal damage caused by implantation. After the thermal process, residual crystal damage may remain, which adversely impacts solar cell efficiency. In order to further reduce the residual damage, the uppermost portion of the surface is then removed, thereby eliminating that portion of the substrate where most of the defects reside. The lower defect concentration reduces recombination and improves efficiency of the solar cell. | 12-20-2012 |
| 20130102102 | VACUUM RECYCLING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REFINING SOLAR GRADE POLYSILICON - A vacuum recycling apparatus for refining solar grade polysilicon is provided which contains a vacuum degassing (VD) device and a vacuum recycling (RH) device. By storing liquid silicon in a bucket in the VD device, controlling the pressure inside the VD and RH devices, and introducing inert gas into the apparatus, the liquid silicon is stirred for the removal of impurities. With the present invention, solar grade polysilicon can be directly produced with a specified purity, significantly reducing the production time and cost. | 04-25-2013 |
| 20130109124 | METHODS OF MAKING A TRANSPARENT LAYER AND A PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE | 05-02-2013 |
| 20140065752 | UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED SELF-ASSEMBLED SOLDER DOT FORMATION FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLAR CELLS - A method for fabricating a photovoltaic device includes performing a gettering process in a processing chamber which restricts formation of a layer of gettering materials on a substrate and forming a solder layer on the substrate. The solder layer is annealed to form uniformly distributed solder dots which grow on the substrate. The substrate is etched using the solder dots to protect portions of the substrate and form cones in the substrate such that the cones provide a three-dimensional radiation absorbing structure for the photovoltaic device. | 03-06-2014 |
| 20140147956 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELLS, ATTENUATING LID PHENOMENA - To reduce degradation, by the LID effect, of the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells made of crystalline silicon, one or more steps of controlled introduction of voids into the silicon are carried out by one or more steps chosen from among: siliciding, nitriding, ion implantation, laser irradiation, mechanical bending stress applied on one face of the silicon substrate, in combination with a temperature promoting the formation of voids in the substrate. These voids make it possible to reduce the level of interstitial oxygen by an effect of diffusion of VO complexes and precipitation of oxygen. The introduction of voids has the other effect of reducing the level of autointerstitials, and therefore of limiting the formation of interstitial boron. The phenomena of LID by activation of B | 05-29-2014 |
| 20140162394 | MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR SOLAR CELL - Provided is a method for manufacturing a solar cell with improved output characteristics. A hydrogen radical treatment, in which ions are not used, is performed on at least one of the first and second semiconductor layers ( | 06-12-2014 |
| 20140357011 | SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICK-UP DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF, IMAGE-PICKUP APPARATUS, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF, AND SEMICONDUCTOR SUBSTRATE - A solid-state image pick-up device is provided which includes a semiconductor substrate main body which has an element forming layer and a gettering layer provided on an upper layer thereof; photoelectric conversion elements, each of which includes a first conductive type region, provided in the element forming layer; and a dielectric film which is provided on an upper layer of the gettering layer and which induces a second conductive type region in a surface of the gettering layer. | 12-04-2014 |
| 20150072460 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRECIPITATING A LAYER ON A SUBSTRATE - The invention relates to a device for depositing a layer made of at least two components on an object, with a deposition chamber for disposing the object, at least one source with material to be deposited, as well as at least one device for controlling the deposition process, implemented such that the concentration of at least one component of the material to be deposited can be modified in its gas phase prior to deposition on the substrate by selective binding of a specified quantity of the at least one component, wherein the selectively bound quantity of the at least one component can be controlled by modifying at least one control parameter that is actively coupled to a binding rate or the component. It further relates to a device for depositing a layer made of at least two components on an object, wherein a device for controlling the deposition process has at least one gettering element made of a reactive material, wherein the reactive material includes copper and/or molybdenum. It further relates to a method for depositing a layer made of at least two components on an object, wherein a selectively bound quantity of at least one component is controlled by modifying a binding rate of a device for controlling the deposition process. | 03-12-2015 |
| 20150111333 | ADVANCED HYDROGENATION OF SILICON SOLAR CELLS - A method of hydrogenation of a silicon photovoltaic junction device is provided, the silicon photovoltaic junction device comprising p-type silicon semiconductor material and n-type silicon semiconductor material forming at least one p-n junction. | 04-23-2015 |
| 20150125987 | METHOD FOR CLEANING AND PASSIVATING CHALCOGENIDE LAYERS - A method for chemically cleaning and passivating a chalcogenide layer is provided, wherein the method comprises bringing the chalcogenide layer into contact with an ammonium sulfide containing ambient, such as an ammonium sulfide liquid solution or an ammonium sulfide containing vapor. Further, a method for fabricating photovoltaic cells with a chalcogenide absorber layer is provided, wherein the method comprises: providing a chalcogenide semiconductor layer on a substrate; bringing the chalcogenide semiconductor layer into contact with an ammonium sulfide containing ambient, thereby removing impurities and passivating the chalcogenide semiconductor layer; and afterwards providing a buffer layer on the chalcogenide semiconductor layer. | 05-07-2015 |
| 20150132881 | ADVANCED HYDROGENATION OF SILICON SOLAR CELLS - A method of hydrogenation of a silicon photovoltaic junction device is provided, the silicon photovoltaic junction device comprising p-type silicon semiconductor material and n-type silicon semiconductor material forming at least one p-n junction. | 05-14-2015 |
| 20150357508 | OXIDE MEDIA FOR GETTERING IMPURITIES FROM SILICON WAFERS - The present invention relates to a novel process for the preparation of printable, low- to high-viscosity oxide media, and to the use thereof in the production of solar cells. | 12-10-2015 |
| 20150372049 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a first film on a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate includes metal impurities, which may cause defects in the semiconductor device. A second film is formed on the first film such that the first film is between the second film and the semiconductor substrate. The first film, the second film, and the semiconductor substrate are heated. During the heating, which may occur during various manufacturing steps of the semiconductor device, the metal impurities from the semiconductor substrate diffuse into the second film. After the heating, the first and second films are removed from the semiconductor substrate. | 12-24-2015 |
| 20160064450 | MANUFACTURING METHOD OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - In a semiconductor device incorporating a CMOS image sensor, dangling bonds existing at the interface between a semiconductor substrate and an insulating film formed over the semiconductor substrate are selectively terminated with hydrogen. | 03-03-2016 |
| 20160141442 | USE OF SILICON NITRIDE AS A SUBSTRATE AND A COATING MATERIAL FOR THE RAPID SOLIDIFICATION OF SILICON - Silicon nitride particles are used as a coating or substrate material for kerfless wafer making technologies. | 05-19-2016 |
