Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20080220559 | SOLAR CELL, MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF AND ELECTRODE MATERIAL - There is presented a solar cell comprising a semiconductor substrate of one conductivity-type, a layer of the opposite conductivity-type provided on a surface side of the semiconductor substrate, a surface electrode formed thereon, and a backside electrode formed on a backside of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the semiconductor substrate is formed with protrusions and recesses on the surface side thereof, and spaces that are filled with a glass component of an electrode material of the surface electrode are present in bottom portions of the recesses. This arrangement has eliminated a conventional problem in that silver in the electrode material gets into the bottom portions of the recesses and causes defects to be generated in the recesses due to stress generated during forming of the electrode. | 09-11-2008 |
20080241986 | METHOD FOR FABRICATING A SILICON SOLAR CELL STRUCTURE HAVING AMORPHOUS SILICON LAYERS - Devices, solar cell structures, and methods of fabrication thereof, are disclosed. | 10-02-2008 |
20090104731 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF - A semiconductor device manufacturing method including a process of forming a silicon oxide film by thermally oxidizing silicon in the atmosphere of oxygen gas or in the atmosphere of mixed gas of oxygen and hydrogen at a temperature of 800° C. or more in the state in which at least the silicon surface serving as a light-receiving portion of a photodiode is exposed, and a process of depositing a silicon nitride film on the silicon oxide film. At least the silicon oxide film and the silicon nitride film are finally left on the surface of the photodiode as an antireflection film. | 04-23-2009 |
20090117683 | Method of manufacturing single crystal substate and method of manufacturing solar cell using the same - In accordance with the present invention, a method for manufacturing a single-crystal substrate comprising the steps of: preparing a square-shaped frame; pouring polycrystalline molten silicon into the prepared frame; cooling and crystallizing the molten silicon; and forming the single-crystal silicon substrate by transferring a heating element from one corner of the frame to another corner opposite the corner, thus simplifying the entire manufacturing process of the single-crystal substrate and reducing the material cost. | 05-07-2009 |
20090130793 | PHOTO DIODE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A method of fabricating a photo diode includes sequentially forming a buried layer of a first conductivity type, a first epitaxial layer of the first conductivity type, and a second epitaxial layer of a second conductivity type on a semiconductor substrate; forming a doped oxide film, including impurities of the second conductivity type, on the second epitaxial layer; forming a silicon nitride film on the oxide film; and patterning the oxide film and the silicon nitride film to sequentially form an oxide film pattern of the second conductivity type and a silicon nitride film pattern, respectively. The second conductivity type impurities are diffused from the oxide film pattern into the second epitaxial layer using a heat diffusion process to form a doped shallow junction layer of the second conductivity type, which converts the oxide film pattern into a non-conductive oxide film pattern. | 05-21-2009 |
20090181491 | High-Resolution Integrated X-Ray CMOS Image Sensor - An X-ray image sensor having scintillating material embedded into wave-guide structures fabricated in a CMOS image sensor (CIS). After the CIS has been fabricated, openings (deep pores) are formed in the back side of the CIS wafer. These openings terminate at a distance of about 1 to 5 microns below the upper silicon surface of the wafer. The depth of these openings can be controlled by stopping on a buried insulating layer, or by stopping on an epitaxial silicon layer having a distinctive doping concentration. The openings are aligned with corresponding photodiodes of the CIS. The openings may have a shape that narrows as approaching the photodiodes. A thin layer of a reflective material may be formed on the sidewalls of the openings, thereby improving the efficiency of the resulting waveguide structures. Scintillating material (e.g., CsI(Tl)) is introduced into the openings using a ForceFill™ technology or by mechanical pressing. | 07-16-2009 |
20090197367 | METHOD TO FORM A PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL COMPRISING A THIN LAMINA - A very thin photovoltaic cell is formed by implanting gas ions below the surface of a donor body such as a semiconductor wafer. Ion implantation defines a cleave plane, and a subsequent step exfoliates a thin lamina from the wafer at the cleave plane. A photovoltaic cell, or all or a portion of the base or emitter of a photovoltaic cell, is formed within the lamina. In preferred embodiments, the wafer is affixed to a receiver before the cleaving step. Electrical contact can be formed to both surfaces of the lamina, or to one surface only. | 08-06-2009 |
20090209057 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENT COMPRISING A PIN DIODE, AND PRODUCTION METHOD - An integrated circuit arrangement includes a pin photodiode and a highly doped connection region of a bipolar transistor. A production method produces an intermediate region of the pin diode with a large depth and without auto-doping in a central region. | 08-20-2009 |
20090215217 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME - A method for producing a solid-state imaging device, which including: a photoelectric conversion section; a charge transfer section having a charge transfer electrode; and an antireflection film covering a light-receiving region in the photoelectric conversion section, wherein forming the antireflection film includes: forming a sidewall on a lateral wall of the charge transfer electrode after forming the charge transfer electrode; forming an antireflection film on a substrate surface where the sidewall is formed; forming a resist on the antireflection film; melting and flattening the resist to expose the antireflection film on the charge transfer electrode; removing the antireflection film by using the resist as the mask; removing the sidewall; covering the charge transfer electrode with an insulating film; and forming a light-shielding film that reaches a level lower than the top surface of the antireflection film, and that surrounds the periphery of the antireflection film. | 08-27-2009 |
20090253227 | ENGINEERED OR STRUCTURED COATINGS FOR LIGHT MANIPULATION IN SOLAR CELLS AND OTHER MATERIALS - The present disclosure concerns a means to design, engineer and use antireflective or metallo-dielectric coatings incorporating metallic, nonmetallic, organic and inorganic metamaterials or nanostructures to manipulate light in solar thermal and photovoltaic materials. Such metallic, nonmetallic, organic or inorganic metamaterials or nanostructures could be used to manipulate light for photovoltaic effects on or in any material or substrate. Dielectric coatings containing metallic nanostructures could be used to improve the efficiency of solar cells and to influence or control such characteristics as optical and thermal absorption, conduction, radiation, emissivity, reflectivity and scattering. | 10-08-2009 |
20090275166 | Method for manufacturing infrared detecting device - A semiconductor layer is prepared in which a silicon substrate, a BOX layer and an SOI layer are laminated in this order. A silicon diode section used as an infrared detection portion is formed in the SOI layer. Further, an isolation portion is formed so as to extend from the SOI layer to a predetermined depth of the silicon substrate via the BOX layer. The isolation portion is formed so as to surround an area in which the silicon diode section is formed, and have the form of a circle or a regular polygon more than a regular pentagon in shape. A protective film is formed on the surface of the SOI layer. Thereafter, etching holes that penetrate the protective film, the SOI layer and the BOX layer are formed. The silicon substrate corresponding to each area surrounded by the isolation portion is etched using the etching holes. | 11-05-2009 |
20090286347 | Methods of Forming Semiconductor Solar Cells Having Front Surface Electrodes - Solar cells include a substrate having a light collecting surface thereon and a P-N rectifying junction within the substrate. The P-N rectifying junction includes a base region of first conductivity type (e.g., p-type) and a semiconductor layer of second conductivity type extending between the base region and the light collecting surface. A trench is also provided, which extends through the semiconductor layer and into the base region. First and second electrodes are provided adjacent the light collecting surface. The first electrode is electrically coupled to the semiconductor layer and the second electrode is electrically coupled to the base region, at a location adjacent a bottom of the trench. | 11-19-2009 |
20090291521 | Semiconductor light detecting element and manufacturing method thereof - A semiconductor photodetector device (PD | 11-26-2009 |
20090317934 | Local heterostructure contacts - Disclosed is a novel method for creating local contacts in solar cells. In the method, a surface passivation that has been applied to a semiconductor substrate is locally etched away using a plasma process with the help of a thin stretched, elastic foil. If necessary, deep doping gradients are then locally created at the same points by means of a hydrogen plasma treatment with the help of thermal donors so as to increase the diffusion length of the charge carriers in the direction of the contacts. Finally, local heterostructure contacts are applied through the same mask openings. The contacts are characterized by a much lower saturation current than common diffused contacts and are therefore particularly suitable for high-performance solar cells. | 12-24-2009 |
20090325339 | Process for producing semiconductor device - An optical absorption layer comprised of a substance having a band gap energy smaller than that of GaN is formed on an implanted region formed in a pGaN layer as a ground layer. There is performed an annealing step from an upper surface of a substrate with predetermined light such as infrared light, a red light, or the like, which has energy smaller than the band gap energy of the pGaN layer. The optical absorption layer has an absorption coefficient of the light in the annealing step larger than that of the pGaN layer. Accordingly, it is possible to selectively perform a heat treatment on a region directly under the optical absorption layer or a region in a vicinity thereof (the implanted region). | 12-31-2009 |
20100009495 | Anti-reflective device having an anti-reflective surface formed of silicon spikes with nano-tips - Described is a device having an anti-reflection surface. The device comprises a silicon substrate with a plurality of silicon spikes formed on the substrate. A first metallic layer is formed on the silicon spikes to form the anti-reflection surface. The device further includes an aperture that extends through the substrate. A second metallic layer is formed on the substrate. The second metallic layer includes a hole that is aligned with the aperture. A spacer is attached with the silicon substrate to provide a gap between an attached sensor apparatus. Therefore, operating as a Micro-sun sensor, light entering the hole passes through the aperture to be sensed by the sensor apparatus. Additionally, light reflected by the sensor apparatus toward the first side of the silicon substrate is absorbed by the first metallic layer and silicon spikes and is thereby prevented from being reflected back toward the sensor apparatus. | 01-14-2010 |
20100015749 | RAPID THERMAL OXIDE PASSIVATED SOLAR CELL WITH IMPROVED JUNCTION - A method of manufacturing a solar cell is provided. One surface of a semiconductor substrate is doped with a n-type dopant. The substrate is then subjected to a thermal oxidation process to form an oxide layer on one or both surfaces of the substrate. The thermal process also diffuses the dopant into the substrate, smoothing the concentration profile. The smoothed concentration gradient enables the oxide layer to act as a passivating layer. Anti-reflective coatings may be applied over the oxide layers, and a reflective layer may be applied on the surface opposite the doped surface to complete the solar cell. | 01-21-2010 |
20100015750 | Process of manufacturing solar cell - A process of manufacturing a solar cell is disclosed. The process comprises steps of (a) providing a semiconductor substrate, (b) forming a dielectric layer with amorphous silicon structure on the semiconductor substrate, (c) partially removing the dielectric layer with amorphous silicon structure to expose parts of the semiconductor substrate, (d) simultaneously forming a heavily doped region on a surface of the exposed semiconductor substrate and a lightly doped region on a surface of the unexposed semiconductor substrate using the dielectric layer with amorphous silicon structure as a translucent barrier layer, (e) removing the dielectric layer with amorphous silicon structure, (f) forming an anti-reflection coating on the semiconductor substrate, and (g) forming a first electrode on the anti-reflection coating and coupled with the heavily doped region. | 01-21-2010 |
20100015751 | HYBRID HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELL FABRICATION USING A METAL LAYER MASK - Embodiments of the invention contemplate the formation of a high efficiency solar cell using a novel processing sequence to form a solar cell device. In one embodiment, the methods include the use of various etching and patterning processes that are used to define active regions of the device and regions where the device and/or contact structure is to be located on a surface of a solar cell substrate. The method generally includes the steps of forming one or more layers on a backside of a solar cell substrate to prevent attack of the backside surface of the substrate, and provide a stable supporting surface, when the front side regions of a solar cell are formed. In one embodiment, the one or more layers are a metalized backside contact structure that is formed on the backside of the solar cell substrate. In another embodiment, the one or more layers are a chemical resistant dielectric layer that is formed over the backside of the solar cell substrate. | 01-21-2010 |
20100029035 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A PHOTOELECTRONIC DEVICE - This application discloses a method of manufacturing a photoelectronic device comprising steps of providing a semiconductor stack layer, forming at least one metal adhesive on the semiconductor stack layer by a printing technology, forming an electrode by heating the metal adhesive to remove the solvent in the metal adhesive, wherein an ohmic contact is formed between the electrode and the semiconductor stack layer. | 02-04-2010 |
20100041176 | PATTERNED ASSEMBLY FOR MANUFACTURING A SOLAR CELL AND A METHOD THEREOF - Apparatuses and methods for manufacturing a solar cell are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, the solar cell may be manufactured by disposing a solar cell in a chamber having a particle source; disposing a patterned assembly comprising an aperture and an assembly segment between the particle source and the solar cell; and selectively implanting first type dopants traveling through the aperture into a first region of the solar cell while minimizing introduction of the first type dopants into a region outside of the first region. | 02-18-2010 |
20100068848 | ONE-STEP DIFFUSION METHOD FOR FABRICATING A DIFFERENTIAL DOPED SOLAR CELL - A one-step diffusion method for fabricating a differential doped solar cell is described. The one-step diffusion method includes the following step. First, a substrate is provided. A doping control layer is formed on the substrate. The doping control layer includes a plurality of openings therein. A doping process is conducted on the substrate to form heavy doping regions under the openings of the doping control layer and light doping regions on the other portion of the substrate | 03-18-2010 |
20100087031 | METHOD OF PRODUCING A PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL WITH A HETEROJUNCTION ON THE REAR FACE - The invention relates to a method of producing a photovoltaic cell ( | 04-08-2010 |
20100112747 | METHOD OF MAKING A SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE - A solid-state imaging device includes the following elements. A photoelectric conversion section is arranged in a semiconductor layer having a first surface through which light enters the photoelectric conversion section. A signal circuit section is arranged in a second surface of the semiconductor layer opposite to the first surface. The signal circuit section processes signal charge obtained by photoelectric conversion by the photoelectric conversion section. A reflective layer is arranged on the second surface of the semiconductor layer opposite to the first surface. The reflective layer reflects light transmitted through the photoelectric conversion section back thereto. The reflective layer is composed of a single tungsten layer or a laminate containing a tungsten layer. | 05-06-2010 |
20100120191 | Method of forming front contacts to a silicon solar cell wiithout patterning - A method for forming front contacts on a silicon solar cell which includes texture etching the front surface of the solar cell, forming an antireflective layer over the face, diffusing a doping material into the face to form a heavily doped region in valleys formed during the texture-etching of the face, depositing an electrically conductive material on the heavily doped regions in the valleys and annealing the solar cell. | 05-13-2010 |
20100129955 | PROTECTION LAYER FOR FABRICATING A SOLAR CELL - A method for fabricating a solar cell is described. The method includes first providing, in a process chamber, a substrate having a light-receiving surface. An anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer is then formed, in the process chamber, above the light-receiving surface of the substrate. Finally, without removing the substrate from the process chamber, a protection layer is formed above the ARC layer. | 05-27-2010 |
20100136735 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTOELECTRIC CONVERSION DEVICE - A method for manufacturing a photoelectric conversion device typified by a solar cell, having an excellent photoelectric conversion characteristic with a silicon semiconductor material effectively utilized. The point is that the surface of a single crystal semiconductor layer bonded to a supporting substrate is irradiated with a pulsed laser beam to become rough. The single crystal semiconductor layer is irradiated with the pulsed laser beam in an atmosphere containing an inert gas and oxygen so that the surface thereof is made rough. With the roughness of surface of the single crystal semiconductor layer, light reflection is suppressed so that incident light can be trapped. Accordingly, even when the thickness of the single crystal semiconductor layer is equal to or greater than 0.1 μm and equal to or less than 10 μm, path length of incident light is substantially increased so that the amount of light absorption can be increased. | 06-03-2010 |
20100144084 | OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE STRUCTURES FOR AN IMAGE SENSOR - Trenches that are filled with a reflecting material are formed in one or more dielectric layers in an image sensor. The trenches form optical waveguide structures that surround either partially or completely each photodetector in the image sensor. Each optical waveguide structure directs light towards a respective photodetector. | 06-10-2010 |
20100159630 | METHOD FOR MAKING A PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL COMPRISING CONTACT REGIONS DOPED THROUGH A LAMINA - In aspects of the present invention, a method is disclosed to form a lamina having opposing first and second surfaces. Heavily doped contact regions extend from the first surface to the second surface. Generally the lamina is formed by affixing a semiconductor donor body to a receiver element, then cleaving the lamina from the semiconductor donor body wherein the lamina remains affixed to the receiver element. In the present invention, the heavily doped contact regions are formed by doping the semiconductor donor body before cleaving of the lamina. A photovoltaic cell comprising the lamina is then fabricated. By forming the heavily doped contact regions before bonding to the receiver element and cleaving, post-bonding high-temperature steps can be avoided, which may be advantageous. | 06-24-2010 |
20100159631 | Reduced dark current photodetector - A photo-detector comprising: a photo absorbing layer comprising an n-doped semiconductor exhibiting a valence band energy level; a barrier layer, a first side of the barrier layer adjacent a first side of the photo absorbing layer, the barrier layer exhibiting a valence band energy level substantially equal to the valence band energy level of the doped semiconductor of the photo absorbing layer; and a contact area comprising a doped semiconductor, the contact area being adjacent a second side of the barrier layer opposing the first side, the barrier layer exhibiting a thickness and a conductance band gap sufficient to prevent tunneling of majority carriers from the photo absorbing layer to the contact area and block the flow of thermalized majority carriers from the photo absorbing layer to the contact area. Alternatively, a p-doped semiconductor is utilized, and conductance band energy levels of the barrier and photo absorbing layers are equalized. | 06-24-2010 |
20100167456 | IMAGE SENSOR AND METHOD OF FABRICATING THE SAME - An image sensor and a method of fabricating the same are provided. A pad region is disposed on a substrate. The pad region has a higher concentration of impurity ions than the substrate. The pad region is selectively removed using the substrate as an etch mask, thereby forming a hole. A conductive pad is formed in the hole of the substrate. | 07-01-2010 |
20100167457 | LASER FIRING APPARATUS FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLAR CELL AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF - Disclosed are a laser firing apparatus for a high efficiency solar cell including laser generating unit and a fabrication method thereof. The laser firing apparatus for a high efficiency solar cell includes at least one laser generating unit that irradiates a laser irradiation on to an electrode region formed on a semiconductor substrate for the solar cell and heat-treats the electrode region. In addition, the fabrication method of a solar cell includes forming an electrode material on a semiconductor substrate for the solar cell; and forming an electrode by heat treating the electrode material by laser irradiation. | 07-01-2010 |
20100173446 | Layered Contact Structure For Solar Cells - Formulations and methods of making semiconductor devices and solar cell contacts are disclosed. The invention provides a method of making a semiconductor device or solar cell contact including ink-jet printing onto a silicon wafer an ink composition, typically including a high solids loading (20-80 wt %) of glass fit and preferably a conductive metal such as silver. The wafer is then fired such that the glass frit fuses to form a glass, thereby forming a contact layer to silicon. | 07-08-2010 |
20100173447 | Solar cell and method of fabricating the same - A solar cell ( | 07-08-2010 |
20100184249 | Continuous deposition process and apparatus for manufacturing cadmium telluride photovoltaic devices - A continuous deposition process and apparatus for depositing semiconductor layers containing cadmium, tellurium or sulfur as a principal constituent on transparent substrates to form photovoltaic devices as the substrates are continuously conveyed through the deposition apparatus is described. The film deposition process for a photovoltaic device having an n-type window layer and three p-type absorber layers in contiguous contact is carried out by a modular continuous deposition apparatus which has a plurality of processing stations connected in series for depositing successive layers of semiconductor films onto continuously conveying substrates. The fabrication starts by providing an optically transparent substrate coated with a transparent conductive oxide layer, onto which an n-type window layer formed of CdS or CdZnS is sputter deposited. After the window layer is deposited, a first absorber layer is deposited thereon by sputter deposition. Thereafter, a second absorber layer formed of CdTe is deposited onto the first absorber layer by a novel vapor deposition process in which the CdTe film forming vapor is generated by sublimation of a CdTe source material. After the second absorber layer is deposited, a third absorber layer formed of CdHgTe is deposited thereon by sputter deposition. The substrates are continuously conveyed through the modular continuous deposition apparatus as successive layers of semiconductor films are deposited thereon. | 07-22-2010 |
20100184250 | SELF-ALIGNED SELECTIVE EMITTER FORMED BY COUNTERDOPING - An improved method of doping substrates, such as a solar cell, is disclosed. Conductors, such as metal lines, are often deposited on the surface of a substrate. In some embodiments, the conductivity of the substrate beneath the conductors is different than the conductivity of other regions of the substrate. Therefore, the conductors can serve as the mask for a subsequent blanket doping, which changes the conductivity of the surface of the substrate, except beneath the conductors. In some embodiments, an initial blanket doping is performed prior to the deposition of the conductors to create an initial uniformly doped region. | 07-22-2010 |
20100197072 | Method of manufacturing a thin film solar cell - A method of manufacturing a thin film solar cell includes steps of preparing a substrate on which unit cells are defined, forming transparent conducive layers on the substrate and corresponding to the unit cells, respectively, the transparent conductive layers spaced apart from each other with a first separation line therebetween, forming light-absorbing layers on the transparent conductive layers and corresponding to the unit cells, respectively, the light-absorbing layers spaced apart from each other with a second separation line therebetween, forming a third separation line in each of the light-absorbing layers, the third separation line spaced apart from the second separation line, forming a reflection material layer by disposing a silk screen over the third separation line and applying a conductive paste, and forming reflection electrodes corresponding to the unit cells, respectively, by sintering the reflection material layer. | 08-05-2010 |
20100203667 | MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR A SOLID-STATE IMAGE SENSOR - A manufacturing method for a solid-state image sensor, the method comprises the steps of: forming a charge storage region in a photoelectric converting unit by implanting a semiconductor substrate with ions of an impurity of a first conductivity type, using a first mask; heating the semiconductor substrate at a temperature of no less than 800° C. and no more than 1200° C. through RTA (Rapid Thermal Annealing); forming a surface region of the charge storage region by implanting the semiconductor substrate with ions of an impurity of a second conductivity type, using a second a mask; heating the semiconductor substrate at a temperature of no less than 800° C. and no more than 1200° C. through RTA (Rapid Thermal Annealing); and forming an antireflection film that covers the photoelectric converting unit at a temperature of less than 800° C., after the step of forming the surface region, in this order. | 08-12-2010 |
20100210063 | STACKED-LAYERED THIN FILM SOLAR CELL AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF - The present invention provides a stacked-layered thin film solar cell and manufacturing method thereof The manufacturing method includes the steps of: providing a substrate, a first electrode layer and a first light-absorbing layer; providing a mask with a plurality of patterns above the first light-absorbing layer; forming an interlayer made of an opaque, highly reflective material by providing the mask on the first light-absorbing layer, wherein the interlayer has a plurality of light transmissive regions corresponding to the patterns, and the light transmissive regions are provided to divide the interlayer into a plurality of units; and then depositing a second light-absorbing layer on the units and a second electrode layer on the second light-absorbing layer. | 08-19-2010 |
20100233840 | SILICON SOLAR CELLS AND METHODS OF FABRICATION - Devices, solar cell structures, and methods of fabrication thereof, are disclosed. Briefly described, one exemplary embodiment of the device, among others, includes: a co-fired p-type silicon substrate, wherein the bulk lifetime is about 20 to 125 μs; an n | 09-16-2010 |
20100240170 | METHOD OF FABRICATING SOLAR CELL - A method of fabricating a solar cell is provided. A dopant material layer is deposited on a front surface of a semiconductor substrate and an over-depositing dopant layer is also formed on a back surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein dopants of the dopant material layer diffuse into the front surface of the semiconductor substrate to form a doping layer and dopants of the over-depositing dopant layer diffuse into the back surface of the semiconductor substrate to form a doping residual layer during said depositing process. The dopant material layer and the over-depositing dopant layer are removed. An anti-reflective layer is formed on the doping layer. After the doping residual layer on the semiconductor substrate is removed to expose the back surface of the semiconductor substrate, a passivation layer is formed on the exposed back surface of the semiconductor substrate. Then, a first electrode and a second electrode are formed. | 09-23-2010 |
20100261304 | Solution-based process for making inorganic materials - Disclosed embodiments provide a solution-based process for producing useful materials, such as semiconductor materials. One disclosed embodiment comprises providing at least a first reactant and a second reactant in solution and applying the solution to a substrate. The as-deposited material is thermally annealed to form desired compounds. Thermal annealing may be conducted under vacuum; under an inert atmosphere; or under a reducing environment. The method may involve using metal and chalcogen precursor compounds. One example of a metal precursor compound is a metal halide. Examples of suitable chalcogen precursor compounds include a chalcogen powder, a chalcogen halide, a chalcogen oxide, a chalcogen urea, a chalcogen or dichalcogen comprising organic ligands, or combinations thereof. Certain disclosed embodiments concern a method for making a solar cell from I-III-VI semiconductors. | 10-14-2010 |
20100267187 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a solar cell, including: diffusing p type impurity into at least a portion of a first surface, which is one surface of a silicon substrate, to form a high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer; and etching one of the first surface of the silicon substrate and a second surface of the silicon substrate opposite to the first surface, using as a mask at least one of the high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer and a film formed on the high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer upon forming the high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer. | 10-21-2010 |
20100279453 | Method for making an anti-reflection film of a solar cell - A method is disclosed for making an anti-reflection film of a solar cell. The method includes the step of providing a laminate. The laminate includes a ceramic substrate, a titanium-based compound film, a p | 11-04-2010 |
20100279454 | Method of Manufacturing a Solar Cell - A method of manufacturing a solar cell. The method includes the steps of providing a substrate, applying a first dopant to a first surface, applying a second dopant to a second surface, covering the doped first surface with a hard mask, applying a third dopant to the substrate side, removing the hard mask, applying a pattern of first electrical contacts to the doping pattern, and applying a pattern of second electrical contacts to the doped second surface, the pattern of second electrical contacts and the doping pattern being straight-lined opposed. | 11-04-2010 |
20100304523 | Method of enhancing the conductive and optical properties of deposited indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films - Certain example embodiments of this invention relate to a method of activating an indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film deposited, directly or indirectly, on a substrate. The ITO thin film is baked in a low oxygen environment at a temperature of at least 450 degrees C. for at least 10 minutes so as to provide for (1) a post-baked resistivity of the ITO thin film that is below a resistivity of a corresponding air-baked ITO thin film, (2) a post-baked visible spectrum absorption and transmission of the ITO thin film that respectively are below and above the absorption and transmission of the corresponding air-baked ITO thin film, and (3) a post-baked infrared reflectivity of the ITO thin film that is above the reflectivity of the corresponding air-baked ITO thin film. The substrate with the activated ITO thin film may be used in a photovoltaic device, for example. | 12-02-2010 |
20100317143 | PROCESS OF FORMING A SILICON SOLAR CELL - A process for the production of a silicon solar cell comprising application and firing of an aluminum paste which comprises magnesium oxide and/or magnesium compounds capable of forming magnesium oxide on firing on the back-side of a silicon wafer provided with a silicon nitride antireflective coating on its front-side and being contaminated with silicon nitride on its back-side, and firing the aluminum paste after its application. | 12-16-2010 |
20100323470 | BACKSIDE ILLUMINATED IMAGE SENSOR HAVING DEEP LIGHT REFLECTIVE TRENCHES - An array of pixels is formed using a semiconductor layer having a frontside and a backside through which incident light is received. Each pixel typically includes a photosensitive region formed in the semiconductor layer and a trench formed adjacent to the photosensitive region. The trench causes the incident light to be directed away from the trench and towards the photosensitive region. | 12-23-2010 |
20100330730 | Manufacturing Method of Solar Cell - The present invention discloses a method of manufacturing a solar cell by forming two electrode layers on the same side of a wafer, and avoiding sunlight incident to another side from being blocked by the electrode layers to enhance the photoelectric conversion efficiency, and each electrode layer is formed by using a mask layer to perform a vapor deposition process, without requiring any mask lithography or etching process. Of course, the issue of a high-temperature process that deteriorates the quality of the wafer no longer exists. | 12-30-2010 |
20110003425 | Process for making multi-crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells - Dichlorosilane and diborane are deposited on the titanium-based alloy film to grow a p | 01-06-2011 |
20110020975 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTODIODE DEVICE - A method of manufacturing photodiode device includes the following steps: providing a wafer having a substrate and an epitaxy layer, the substrate having a first surface and a second surface and the epitaxy layer formed on the first surface; forming a first conductive layer on the second surface of the substrate; forming a patterned conductive layer above the epitaxy layer; and etching the patterned conductive layer by a reactive ion etching (RIE) process performed under argon gas and helium gas. | 01-27-2011 |
20110020976 | SOLAR CELL, AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A method for manufacturing a solar cell, includes: forming, on a silicon substrate whose conductivity type is p-type or n-type, a silicon layer including a dopant whose conductivity type is different from that of the silicon substrate; and diffusing the dopant included in the silicon layer into the silicon substrate by heat-treating the silicon layer. | 01-27-2011 |
20110059572 | BACKSIDE ILLUMINATED IMAGE SENSOR WITH SHALLOW BACKSIDE TRENCH FOR PHOTODIODE ISOLATION - A backside illuminated image sensor comprises a sensor layer implementing a plurality of photosensitive elements of a pixel array, an oxide layer adjacent a backside surface of the sensor layer, and at least one dielectric layer adjacent a frontside surface of the sensor layer. The sensor layer further comprises a plurality of backside trenches formed in the backside surface of the sensor layer and arranged to provide isolation between respective pairs of the photosensitive elements. The backside trenches have corresponding backside field isolation implant regions formed in the sensor layer, and the resulting structure provides reductions in carrier recombination and crosstalk between adjacent photosensitive elements. The image sensor may be implemented in a digital camera or other type of digital imaging device. | 03-10-2011 |
20110070680 | Pattern forming method and manufacturing method of semiconductor device - A pattern forming method includes forming a spin on dielectric film on a substrate, washing the spin on dielectric film by using a washing liquid, drying a surface of the spin on dielectric film after the washing, forming a photosensitive film on the dried coating type insulation film, emitting energy rays to a predetermined position of the photosensitive film in order to form a latent image on the photosensitive film, developing the photosensitive film in order to form a photosensitive film pattern which corresponds to the latent image, and processing the spin on dielectric film with the photosensitive film pattern serving as a mask. | 03-24-2011 |
20110086462 | Process for Manufacturing Solar Cells including Ambient Pressure Plasma Torch Step - A method of forming photovoltaic devices and modules that includes an ambient pressure thin film deposition step. The central combination of the photovoltaic device structure includes a back reflector layer, active photovoltaic material and transparent electrode. The central combination is formed on a substrate having an electrical isolation layer deposited thereon. The device structure may further include an overlying protective layer remote from the substrate and a laminate on the backside of the substrate. The individual devices may be interconnected in series via a patterning process to form a monolithically integrated module. Module fabrication is preferably performed in a continuous fashion. One or more steps of module fabrication are performed with a plasma torch. Use of a plasma torch simplifies the manufacturing process by enabling deposition of the electrical isolation and/or protective layers at ambient pressure, including in air. The resulting process simplification greatly improves the economics of thin film photovoltaic module manufacturing. | 04-14-2011 |
20110111549 | Image Sensor with Pixel Wiring to Reflect Light - An image sensor with a plurality of photodiodes pixels. At least one of the photodiodes pixels includes a reflective element that prevents light from traveling onto an adjacent photodiode pixel. The reflective element may be a floating contact adjacent a routing wire of the image sensor. The reflective element may have an aspect ratio that maximizes the reflective surface of the element. | 05-12-2011 |
20110143484 | Method of fabricating solar cell - A method of fabricating a solar cell is provided. A saw damage removal process is performed on a silicon substrate. A dry surface treatment is performed to a surface of the silicon substrate on form an irregular surface. A metal-activated selective oxidation is performed to the irregular surface. By using an aqueous solution, the irregular surface is etched to form a nanotexturized surface of the silicon substrate. A dopant diffusion process is performed on the silicon substrate to form a P-N junction. An anti-reflection layer is formed on the silicon substrate. An electrode is formed on the silicon substrate. | 06-16-2011 |
20110143485 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLID-STATE IMAGING APPARATUS - The method of manufacturing the solid-state imaging apparatus of the present invention includes: forming elements of an imaging region and a peripheral region on a substrate; forming a plurality of wiring patterns such that the wiring patterns of the peripheral region are denser than those of the imaging region; and forming an insulating film interposed between the wiring patterns. Further, the manufacturing method includes: etching and removing at least a part of the insulating film on the peripheral region; and planarizing a surface of the insulating film by a CMP process. | 06-16-2011 |
20110143486 | Solar Cell and Manufacturing Method Thereof - Forming an impurity diffusion layer of the second conductivity type and an antireflective film on one surface side of a semiconductor substrate of the first conductivity type; applying the first electrode material onto the antireflective film; forming a passivation film on the other surface side of the semiconductor substrate; forming openings in the passivation film to reach the other surface side; applying a second electrode material containing impurity elements of the first conductive type to fill the openings and not to be in contact with the second electrode material of adjacent openings; applying a third electrode material onto the passivation film to be in contact with the entire second electrode material; forming at a time, by heating the semiconductor substrate at a predetermined temperature after applying the first electrode material and the third electrode material, the first electrodes, a high-concentration region, and the second electrodes and third electrode. | 06-16-2011 |
20110151613 | Solid-state image capturing element, method for manufacturing the solid-state image capturing element, and electronic information device - A solid-state image capturing element according to the present invention is provided, in which one or a plurality of light receiving sections for photoelectrically converting an incident light to generate a signal charge is provided on a surface of a semiconductor area or a surface of a semiconductor substrate and a peripheral circuit with a transistor is provided, where a reflection preventing film provided above the light receiving sections and a gate sidewall film of the transistor are formed with a common nitride film that is formed simultaneously. | 06-23-2011 |
20110159632 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SOLID-STATE IMAGE CAPTURING ELEMENT - The deposition temperature of the HDP film can be controlled to 365° C. or below, preferably within a temperature range of 335° C. to 365° C., and more preferably 335° C. to 350° C., or at 350° C. Thus, it becomes possible to suppress signal deterioration due to dark current and an increase in fine white defects, and to prevent deterioration of picture quality, even when the HDP film with a favorable embedding capability between fine wiring is used as an interlayer insulation film. An RF power is set to 850 W to 1500 W, so that dark current can be suppressed even more. Further, a plasma silicon nitride film with a refractive index of 1.9 or more and 2.15 or less for a blue wavelength is formed, so that it becomes possible to suppress the lowering of a blue sensitivity in the light receiving elements to further improve picture quality. | 06-30-2011 |
20110159633 | PASTE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF SOLAR CELL USING THE SAME - Disclosed are a paste and a method for manufacturing a solar cell through screen printing said paste. The paste contains inorganic powder; an organic solvent; and a binder, and the inorganic powder has a tap density of 0.01 to 20 g/cm | 06-30-2011 |
20110171773 | Method for Making a Planar Concentrating Solar Cell Assembly with Silicon Quantum Dots - Disclosed is a method for making a silicon quantum dot planar concentrating solar cell. At first, silicon nitride or silicon oxide mixed with silicon quantum dots is provided on a transparent substrate. By piling, there is formed a planar optical waveguide for concentrating sunlit into a small dot cast on a small solar cell. | 07-14-2011 |
20110177648 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS HAVING A HIGH CONVERSION EFFICIENCY - A method and apparatus for forming solar cells is provided. In one embodiment, a photovoltaic device includes a antireflection coating layer disposed on a first surface of a substrate, a barrier layer disposed on a second surface of the substrate, a first transparent conductive oxide layer disposed on the barrier layer, a conductive contact layer disposed on the first transparent conductive oxide layer, a first p-i-n junction formed on the conductive contact layer, and a second transparent conductive oxide layer formed on the first p-i-n junction. | 07-21-2011 |
20110177649 | PROCESS FOR THE DEPOSITION OF AN ANTI-REFLECTION FILM ON A SUBSTRATE - A method for the deposition of an anti-reflection film on a substrate is disclosed. A substrate including a plurality of solar cell structures is provided and placed in a vacuum chamber with a target including silicon. A flow of a nitrogen-containing reactive gas into the vacuum chamber is set to a first value while a voltage between the target and ground is switched off and then increased to a second value. A voltage is applied between the target and ground, whereby a film of silicon and nitrogen is deposited on the substrate in a flow of the nitrogen-containing reactive gas which is higher than the first value. | 07-21-2011 |
20110183459 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - A method of manufacturing a solar cell includes providing a semiconductor substrate; disposing a reflection layer on one side of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the disposing the reflection layer comprises implanting gas into a surface of the one side of the semiconductor substrate and heating the gas; disposing an n+ region and a p+ region separated from each other on the other opposite facing side of the semiconductor substrate; disposing a first electrode connected to the n+ region; and disposing a second electrode connected to the p+ region. | 07-28-2011 |
20110189810 | CRYSTALLINE SILICON PV CELL WITH SELECTIVE EMITTER PRODUCED WITH LOW TEMPERATURE PRECISION ETCH BACK AND PASSIVATION PROCESS - A method of forming a selective emitter in a photovoltaic (PV) crystalline silicon semiconductor wafer involves forming a mask on a front side surface of the wafer to create masked and unmasked areas on the front side surface. A first silicon oxide layer is electrochemically formed at the unmasked areas of the front side surface such that the silicon oxide layer extends into an emitter of the wafer at least as far as a dead zone therein. The mask is removed and the first silicon oxide layer is etched back until substantially all of the first silicon oxide layer is removed. A second silicon oxide layer is then electrochemically formed on the front side surface such that the second silicon oxide layer has sufficient thickness to passivate the front side surface. | 08-04-2011 |
20110189811 | PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - A photovoltaic device includes a supporting layer, a semiconductor layer stack, and a conductive and light transmissive layer. The supporting layer is proximate to a bottom surface of the device. The semiconductor layer stack includes first and second semiconductor sub-layers, with the second sub-layer having a crystalline fraction of at least approximately 85%. A conductive and light transmissive layer between the supporting layer and the semiconductor layer stack, where an Ohmic contact exists between the first semiconductor sub-layer and the conductive and light transmissive layer. | 08-04-2011 |
20110195540 | COMPOSITION FOR FORMING P-TYPE DIFFUSION LAYER, METHOD FOR FORMING P-TYPE DIFFUSION LAYER, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL - The composition for forming a p-type diffusion layer in accordance with the present invention contains an acceptor element-containing glass powder and a dispersion medium. A p-type diffusion layer and a photovoltaic cell having a p-type diffusion layer are prepared by applying the composition for forming a p-type diffusion layer, followed by a thermal diffusion treatment. | 08-11-2011 |
20110195541 | COMPOSITION FOR FORMING N-TYPE DIFFUSION LAYER, METHOD FOR FORMING N-TYPE DIFFUSION LAYER, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL - The composition for forming an n-type diffusion layer in accordance with the present invention contains a donor element-containing glass powder and a dispersion medium. An n-type diffusion layer and a photovoltaic cell having an n-type diffusion layer are prepared by applying the composition for forming an n-type diffusion layer, followed by a thermal diffusion treatment. | 08-11-2011 |
20110217808 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE HAVING IMPROVED SENSITIVITY AND REDUCED FLARE - Provided is a solid-state imaging device that realizes sensitivity improvement while maintaining flare prevention effect even when miniaturization of cell is advanced. The solid-state imaging device according to the present invention includes: light receiving units formed on a semiconductor substrate; an antireflection film arranged above the semiconductor substrate, except above the light receiving units; and microlenses arranged above the light receiving units, in which the antireflection film is formed at a position equal to or higher than a position of the microlenses. | 09-08-2011 |
20110217809 | INKS AND PASTES FOR SOLAR CELL FABRICATON - A silicon solar cell is formed with an N-type silicon layer on a P-type silicon semiconductor substrate. An antireflective and passivation layer is deposited on the N-type silicon layer, and then an aluminum ink composition is printed on the back of the silicon wafer to form the back contact electrode. The back contact electrode is sintered to produce an ohmic contact between the electrode and the P-type silicon layer. The aluminum ink composition may include aluminum powders, a vehicle, an inorganic polymer, and a dispersant. Other electrodes on the solar cell can be produced in a similar manner with the aluminum ink composition. | 09-08-2011 |
20110237016 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR BATTERY CELL - A method includes: a first step of forming a passivation film on a first surface of a crystalline silicon substrate of a first conductive type; a second step of diffusing an element of a second conductive type into a second surface of the crystalline silicon substrate by thermal diffusion to form a diffusion layer, whereby a pn junction is formed; a third step of forming an antireflection film on the diffusion layer; a fourth step of disposing a first electrode paste on the second surface of the crystalline silicon substrate; a fifth step of disposing a second electrode paste on the passivation film; and a sixth step of firing the first electrode paste and the second electrode paste to form electrodes. | 09-29-2011 |
20110237017 | THIN FILM SOLAR CELL AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF - A thin film solar cell having an active area and a dead area is provided. The thin film solar cell includes a first substrate, a first conductive layer, an photovoltaic layer, a second conductive layer, a first passivation layer, and a second passivation layer. The first conducting layer, the photovoltaic layer, the second conductive layer, and the first passivation layer are respectively disposed on the first substrate, the first conductive layer, the photovoltaic layer, and the second conductive layer, and all of them are located in the active area. The second passivation layer is disposed on a peripheral of the photovoltaic layer and located in the dead area, so as to avoid the photovoltaic layer from contacting with moisture in air. A fabrication method of the thin film solar cell is also provided. | 09-29-2011 |
20110244618 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE INCLUDING FLEXIBLE OR INFLEXIBLE SUBSTRATE - Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a photovoltaic device including: a forming the first sub-layer including impurity by allowing first flow rate values of the source gas introduced into one group of a first group consisting of odd numbered process chambers and a second group consisting of even numbered process chambers to be maintained constant in each of the process chambers of the one group; and a forming the second sub-layer including impurity by allowing second flow rate values of the source gas introduced into the other group of the first group and the second group to be maintained constant in each of the process chambers of the other group, wherein the second flow rate values are less than the first flow rate values. | 10-06-2011 |
20110256660 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PHOTOELECTRIC CONVERSION DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a photoelectric conversion device, comprises forming a first insulating film on a semiconductor substrate, forming a gate electrode by forming an electrically conductive layer on the first insulating film and patterning the electrically conductive layer, etching an exposed surface of the first insulating film, forming a charge accumulation region of a photoelectric converter by implanting impurity ions of a first conductivity type into the semiconductor substrate through a thinned portion of the first insulating film formed by the etching, removing the thinned portion, forming a second insulating film covering the semiconductor substrate and the gate electrode, and forming a surface region of the photoelectric converter by implanting impurity ions of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type into the semiconductor substrate through the second insulating film. | 10-20-2011 |
20110294250 | IMAGE SENSOR ELEMENT FOR BACKSIDE-ILLUMINATED SENSOR - Provided is a method of forming and/or using a backside-illuminated sensor including a semiconductor substrate having a front surface and a back surface. A transfer transistor and a photodetector are formed on the front surface. The gate of the transfer transistor includes an optically reflective layer. The gate of the transfer transistor, including the optically reflective layer, overlies the photodetector. Radiation incident the back surface and tratversing the photodetector may be reflected by the optically reflective layer. The reflected radiation may be sensed by the photodetector. | 12-01-2011 |
20110318865 | MANUFACTURING PROCESS FOR MAKING PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLS - The invention relates to a manufacturing process of a photovoltaic solar cell ( | 12-29-2011 |
20110318866 | METHODS FOR FABRICATING THIN FILM III-V COMPOUND SOLAR CELL - The present invention utilizes epitaxial lift-off in which a sacrificial layer is included in the epitaxial growth between the substrate and a thin film III-V compound solar cell. To provide support for the thin film III-V compound solar cell in absence of the substrate, a backing layer is applied to a surface of the thin film compound solar cell before it is separated from the substrate. To separate the thin film compound solar cell from the substrate, the sacrificial layer is removed as part of the epitaxial lift-off. Once the substrate is separated from the thin film III-V compound solar cell, the substrate may then be reused in the formation of another thin film compound solar cell. | 12-29-2011 |
20120003782 | METHOD FOR FORMING IMAGE SENSOR WITH SHIELD STRUCTURES - An image sensor having shield structures and methods of forming the same are provided. Generally, the image sensor includes: (i) substrate having at least one photosensitive element formed therein; (ii) a dielectric layer overlying the substrate and the photosensitive element; and (iii) an annular reflective waveguide disposed in the dielectric layer above the photosensitive element to reduce cross-talk between adjacent elements of the sensor while increasing sensitivity of the sensor. In certain embodiments, the sensor further includes a photoshield disposed in the dielectric above the photosensitive element and about the waveguide to further reduce the possibility of cross-talk. Other embodiments are also disclosed. | 01-05-2012 |
20120009721 | GROUP IV NANOPARTICLE JUNCTIONS AND DEVICES THEREFROM - A device for generating electricity from solar radiation is disclosed. The device includes a wafer doped with a first dopant, the wafer including a front-side and a back-side, wherein the front-side is configured to be exposed to the solar radiation. The device also includes a fused Group IV nanoparticle thin film deposited on the front-side, wherein the nanoparticle thin film includes a second dopant, wherein the second dopant is a counter dopant. The device further includes a first electrode deposited on the nanoparticle thin film, and a second electrode deposited on the back-side, wherein when solar radiation is applied to the front-side, an electrical current is produced. | 01-12-2012 |
20120009722 | ARRAY OF MUTUALLY INSULATED GEIGER-MODE AVALANCHE PHOTODIODES, AND CORRESPONDING MANUFACTURING PROCESS - An embodiment of an array of Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes, wherein each photodiode is formed by a body of semiconductor material, having a first conductivity type, housing a first cathode region, of the second conductivity type, and facing a surface of the body, an anode region, having the first conductivity type and a higher doping level than the body, extending inside the body, and facing the surface laterally to the first cathode region and at a distance therefrom, and an insulation region extending through the body and insulating an active area from the rest of the body, the active area housing the first cathode region and the anode region. The insulation region is formed by a mirror region of metal material, a channel-stopper region having the second conductivity type, surrounding the mirror region, and a coating region, of dielectric material, arranged between the mirror region and the channel-stopper region. | 01-12-2012 |
20120028398 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CHARGING SOLAR CELL LAYERS - Systems and methods of the present invention can be used to charge a charge-holding layer (such as a passivation layer and/or antireflective layer) of a solar cell with a positive or negative charge as desired. The charge-holding layer(s) of such a cell can include any suitable dielectric material capable of holding either a negative or a positive charge, and can be charged at any suitable point during manufacture of the cell, including during or after deposition of the passivation layer(s). A method according to one aspect of the invention includes disposing a solar cell in electrical communication with an electrode inside a chamber. The solar cell includes an emitter, a base, a first passivation layer adjacent the emitter, and a second passivation layer adjacent the base. Gas is injected into the chamber and a plasma (with photons having an energy level of at least about 3.1 eV) is generated using the gas. One or more of the first passivation layer and the second passivation layer is charged to a predetermined polarity, wherein the charging includes applying a direct current voltage pulse to the electrode for a predetermined period of time. | 02-02-2012 |
20120028399 | LASER PROCESSING FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY THIN CRYSTALLINE SILICON SOLAR CELL FABRICATION - Laser processing schemes are disclosed for producing various types of hetero-junction and homo-junction solar cells. The methods include base and emitter contact opening, selective doping, and metal ablation. Also, laser processing schemes are disclosed that are suitable for selective amorphous silicon ablation and selective doping for hetero-junction solar cells. These laser processing techniques may be applied to semiconductor substrates, including crystalline silicon substrates, and further including crystalline silicon substrates which are manufactured either through wire saw wafering methods or via epitaxial deposition processes, that are either planar or textured/three-dimensional. These techniques are highly suited to thin crystalline semiconductor, including thin crystalline silicon films. | 02-02-2012 |
20120058592 | LASER FIRING APPARATUS FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLAR CELL AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF - Disclosed are a laser firing apparatus for a high efficiency solar cell including laser generating unit and a fabrication method thereof. The laser firing apparatus for a high efficiency solar cell includes at least one laser generating unit that irradiates a laser irradiation on to an electrode region formed on a semiconductor substrate for the solar cell and heat-treats the electrode region. In addition, the fabrication method of a solar cell includes forming an electrode material on a semiconductor substrate for the solar cell; and forming an electrode by heat treating the electrode material by laser irradiation. | 03-08-2012 |
20120088327 | Methods of Soldering to High Efficiency Thin Film Solar Panels - Methods for forming a thin film solar cell are provided. In one aspect, a thin film solar cell is formed by providing a back contact comprising a reflective material and an interface metal, applying a solder paste slurry that include a paste flux and metal particles to the interface metal and soldering at least one buss wire to back contact. | 04-12-2012 |
20120094423 | DEVICE FOR JETTING GAS AND SOLAR CELL MANUFACTURING METHOD USING THE SAME - A device for disposing a gas, the device including: a chamber; a plurality of gas jetting plates disposed in the chamber, each gas jetting plate of the plurality of gas jetting plates including a plurality of gas jetting holes disposed on a surface thereof; and a gas pipe fluidly connected to the gas jetting plate and extending outside the chamber, wherein each gas jetting plate includes a first stage, which is fluidly connected to the gas pipe, and a final stage, which includes the plurality of gas jetting holes. | 04-19-2012 |
20120094424 | GAS INJECTION DEVICE AND SOLAR CELL MANUFACTURING METHOD USING THE SAME - A solar cell manufacturing method includes forming a first electrode on a substrate, forming a mixed metal layer on the first electrode, forming a light absorbing layer by injecting hydrogen selenide on the entire surface of the mixed metal layer using a gas injection device, and forming a second electrode on the light absorbing layer. Further, the gas injection device includes a gas pipeline, an inner gas pipe positioned in the gas pipeline and having an opening, and a plurality of injection nozzles disposed below the gas pipeline. | 04-19-2012 |
20120107997 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - In a method of manufacturing a solar cell, a first dopant layer is formed on a lower surface of a substrate and a diffusion-preventing layer is formed on an upper surface of the substrate. Then, the first dopant layer is patterned to expose portions of the lower surface of the substrate, and a second dopant layer is formed on the exposed portion of the lower surface of the substrate. A third dopant layer is formed on the diffusion-preventing layer, and the substrate is heated to diffuse dopants from the first, second, and third dopant layers into the substrate, thereby forming semiconductor areas in the substrate. | 05-03-2012 |
20120107998 | ION IMPLANTED SOLAR CELLS WITH IN SITU SURFACE PASSIVATION - Solar cells and methods for their manufacture are disclosed. An example method may include providing a substrate comprising a base layer and introducing n-type dopant to the front surface of the base layer by ion implantation. The substrate may be annealed by heating the substrate to a temperature to anneal the implant damage and activate the introduced dopant, thereby forming an n-type doped layer into the front surface of the base layer. Oxygen may be introduced during the annealing step to form a passivating oxide layer on the n-type doped layer. Back contacts may be screen-printed on the back surface of the base layer, and a p-type doped layer may be formed at the interface of the back surface of the base layer and the back contacts during firing of the back contacts. The back contacts may provide an electrical connection to the p-type doped layer. | 05-03-2012 |
20120164781 | Disordered Nanowire Solar Cell - A disordered nanowire solar cell includes doped silicon nanowires disposed in a disordered nanowire mat, a thin (e.g., 50 nm) p-i-n coating layer formed on the surface of the silicon nanowires, and a conformal conductive layer disposed on the upper (e.g., n-doped) layer of the p-i-n coating layer. The disordered nanowire mat is grown from a seed layer using VLS processing at a high temperature (e.g., 450° C.), whereby the crystalline silicon nanowires assume a random interwoven pattern that enhances light scattering. Light scattered by the nanowires is absorbed by p-i-n layer, causing, e.g., electrons to pass along the nanowires to the first electrode layer, and holes to pass through the conformal conductive layer to an optional upper electrode layer. Fabrication of the disordered nanowire solar cell is large-area compatible. | 06-28-2012 |
20120171805 | METHOD OF FABRICATING A SOLAR CELL - A method of fabricating a solar cell is provided. A first type semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface is provided. A second type doped diffusion region is formed in parts of the first type semiconductor substrate. The second type doped diffusion region extends within the first type semiconductor substrate from the first surface. An anti-reflection coating (ARC) in contact with second type doped diffusion region is formed over the first surface. A conductive paste including conductive particles and dopant is formed over the ARC. A co-firing process for enabling the conductive paste to penetrate the ARC to form a first contact conductor embedded in the ARC is performed. During the co-firing process, the dopant diffuses into the second type doped diffusion region and a second type heavily doped diffusion region is formed. A second contact conductor is formed on the second surface. | 07-05-2012 |
20120178205 | METHODS OF MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - Provided is a method of manufacturing a solar cell. The method includes: preparing a substrate with a rear electrode; and forming a copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) based light absorbing layer on the rear electrode at a substrate temperature of room temperature to about 350° C., wherein the forming of the CIGS based light absorbing layer includes projecting an electron beam on the CIGS based light absorbing layer. | 07-12-2012 |
20120184063 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - A method for manufacturing a solar cell includes forming an impurity doped region of a second conductive type at a substrate of a first conductive type, sequentially irradiating laser shots onto the impurity doped region of the substrate to form an emitter part including a first emitter region having a first sheet resistance and a second emitter region having a second sheet resistance less than the first sheet resistance, and forming a plurality of first electrodes connected to the second emitter region and forming a second electrode connected to the substrate. | 07-19-2012 |
20120190150 | DARK CURRENT REDUCTION IN BACK-ILLUMINATED IMAGING SENSORS - A back-illuminated semiconductor imaging device on a semiconductor-on-insulator substrate is disclosed. The device includes an insulator layer, a semiconductor substrate having an interface with the insulator layer, an epitaxial layer grown on the semiconductor substrate by epitaxial growth; and one or more imaging components in the epitaxial layer. The semiconductor substrate and the epitaxial layer exhibit a net doping concentration profile having a maximum value at a predetermined distance from the interface which decreases monotonically on both sides of the profile. The doping profile between the interface with the insulation layer and the peak of the doping profile functions as a “dead band” to prevent dark current carriers from penetrating to the front side of the device. | 07-26-2012 |
20120231570 | SINGLE WAFER FABRICATION PROCESS FOR WAVELENGTH DEPENDENT REFLECTANCE FOR LINEAR OPTICAL SERIALIZATION OF ACCELEROMETERS - A plurality of Fabry-Perot interferometric sensors are optically coupled in series with each other to form an ordered optical series. Each Fabry-Perot interferometric sensor has a unique signalband and a passband. Each Fabry-Perot interferometric sensor has its unique signalband within the passbands of all of the next higher ordered Fabry-Perot interferometric sensors in the optical series so that a corresponding unique fringe signal from each of the Fabry-Perot interferometric sensors is a multiplexed output from the optical series. | 09-13-2012 |
20120231571 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A SOLAR CELL - A method for producing a solar cell, including printing a conductive paste on a crystalline silicon substrate, and firing the conductive paste to form a light incident side electrode, wherein the conductive paste comprises conductive particles, glass frits, an organic binder and a solvent, wherein the conductive particles comprise (A) silver, and (B) one or more metals selected from the group consisting of copper, nickel, aluminum, zinc and tin, and the weight proportion (A):(B) is 5:95 to 90:10. | 09-13-2012 |
20120264252 | SOLAR CELL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A solar cell and a method of manufacturing the same are disclosed. The solar cell includes a substrate of a first conductive type having at least one via hole; an emitter layer only on at least a portion of the via hole and at least one selected from a group consisting of an incident surface and side surfaces of the substrate, the emitter layer having a second conductive type opposite the first conductive type; at least one first electrode on the incident surface, the first electrode being electrically connected to the emitter layer; a second electrode connected to an opposite surface to the incident surface; and at least one first electrode current collector on the opposite surface, the at least one first electrode current collector being insulated from the second electrode and being electrically connected to the at least one first electrode through the via hole. | 10-18-2012 |
20120276679 | Method of making a CMOS image sensor and method of suppressing dark leakage and crosstalk for a CMOS image sensor - A CMOS image sensor, in which an implantation process is performed on substrate under isolation structures each disposed between two adjacent photosensor cell structures. The implantation process is a destructive implantation to form lattice effects/trap centers. No defect repair process is carried out after the implantation process is performed. The implants can reside at the isolation structures or in the substrate under the isolation structures. Dark leakage and crosstalk are thus suppressed. | 11-01-2012 |
20120282721 | Method for forming Chalcogenide Semiconductor Film and Photovoltaic Device - A method for forming a chalcogenide semiconductor film and a photovoltaic device using the chalcogenide semiconductor film are disclosed. The method includes steps of coating a precursor solution to form a layer on a substrate and annealing the layer to form the chalcogenide semiconductor film. The precursor solution includes a solvent, metal chalcogenide nanoparticles and at least one of metal ions and metal complex ions which are distributed on surfaces of the metal chalcogenide nanoparticles. The metals of the metal chalcogenide nanoparticles, the metal ions and the metal complex ions are selected from a group consisted of group I, group II, group III and group IV elements of periodic table and include all metal elements of a chalcogenide semiconductor material. | 11-08-2012 |
20120282722 | METALLIZATION METHOD FOR SILICON SOLAR CELLS - A method of forming contacts on a surface emitter of a silicon solar cell is provided. In the method an n-type diffusion of a surface is performed to form a doped emitter surface layer that has a sheet resistance of 10-40 Ω/□. The emitter surface layer is then etched back to increase the sheet resistance of the emitter surface layer. Finally the surface is selectively plated. | 11-08-2012 |
20120282723 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS - A solid-state imaging device including a light-receiving portion, which serves as a pixel, and a waveguide, which is disposed at a location in accordance with the light-receiving portion and which includes a clad layer and a core layer embedded having a refractive index distribution in the wave-guiding direction. | 11-08-2012 |
20120282724 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL WITH UPPER AND LOWER CONDUCTOR LAYERS STACKED TOGETHER - A method of manufacturing a solar cell comprises the steps of: forming a lower conductor layer on a front side of a substrate; firing the lower conductor layer at a first temperature to form a first portion embedded into a doped region of the substrate and a second portion; forming an anti-reflection coating (ARC) layer on the front side and the second portion, wherein the ARC layer covers the lower conductor layer such that the second portion is disposed in the ARC layer; forming an upper conductor layer, corresponding to the lower conductor layer and electrically connected to the lower conductor layer, on the ARC layer; and firing the upper conductor layer at a second temperature to form a first portion embedded into the ARC layer and a second portion, which is exposed out of the ARC layer. | 11-08-2012 |
20120288980 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A BACK CONTACT SOLAR CELL - A method for manufacturing a back contact solar cell according to the present invention comprises the following steps: preparing a p-type silicon substrate having a via hole; performing a diffusion process to form an emitter layer all over the surface of the substrate; forming an etching mask on the front surface and back surface of the substrate so as to selectively expose a portion of the substrate; etching a portion of the thickness of the substrate in the region exposed to the etching mask so as to remove an emitter layer in the relevant region; forming an anti-reflection film on the front surface of the substrate; and forming a grid electrode on the front surface of the substrate, and forming an n-electrode and a p-electrode on the back surface of the substrate. | 11-15-2012 |
20120288981 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL WITH TWO EXPOSED SURFACES OF ARC LAYER DISPOED AT DIFFERENT LEVELS - A method of manufacturing a solar cell includes the steps of: providing a substrate having a front side, a back side and a doped region; forming a conductor layer on the front side; firing the conductor layer at a temperature such that the conductor layer is formed with a first portion embedded into the doped region and a second portion other than the first portion; forming an anti-reflection coating (ARC) layer on the front side and the second portion, wherein the ARC layer covers the conductor layer so that the second portion of the conductor layer is disposed in the ARC layer; and removing the ARC layer on the conductor layer so that the conductor layer has an exposed surface exposed out of the ARC layer, wherein the exposed surface of the conductor layer is substantially flush with a first exposed surface of the ARC layer. | 11-15-2012 |
20120288982 | METHOD FOR REDUCING CONTACT RESISTANCE OF CMOS IMAGE SENSOR - This description relates to a method for reducing CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) contact resistance, the CIS having a pixel array and a periphery. The method includes performing Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) at a pixel contact hole area, annealing for silicide formation at the pixel contact hole area and performing contact filling. This description also relates to a method for reducing CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) contact resistance, the CIS having a pixel array and a periphery. The method includes implanting N+ or P+ for pixel contact plugs at a pixel contact hole area, performing Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) at pixel contact hole area, annealing for silicide formation at the pixel contact hole area, performing contact filling and depositing a first metal film layer, wherein the first metal film layer links contact holes for a source, a drain, or a poly gate of a CMOS device. | 11-15-2012 |
20120295391 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SOLAR CELL - A method of manufacturing a solar cell includes preparing a base substrate having a first conductive type; diffusing an impurity having a second conductive type (opposite the first conductive type) into the base substrate to form an emitter layer having a first impurity concentration on the base substrate and a by-product layer on the emitter layer; irradiating a laser beam onto the emitter layer corresponding to a first region of the base substrate to form a front contact portion having a second impurity concentration higher than the first impurity concentration; irradiating the laser beam onto the by-product layer to remove the by-product layer corresponding to the first region; removing the by-product layer from an area outside of the first region; forming an anti-reflection layer on the base substrate; forming a front electrode on the anti-reflection layer corresponding to the first region; and forming a back electrode on the base substrate. | 11-22-2012 |
20120301997 | METHODS OF MANUFACTURING LIGHT TO CURRENT CONVERTER DEVICES - Processes for making light to current converter devices are provided. The processes can be used to make light to current converter devices having P-N junctions located on only the top surface of the cell, located on the top surface and symmetrically or asymmetrically along a portion of the inner surface of the via holes, located on the top surface and full inner surface of the via holes, or located on the top surface, full inner surface of the via holes, and a portion of the bottom surface of the cell. The processes may isolate the desired P-N junction by etching the emitter, forming a via hole after forming the emitter, using a barrier layer to protect portions of the emitter from etching, or using a barrier layer to prevent the emitter from being formed on portions of the substrate. | 11-29-2012 |
20120301998 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - There is provided a method for manufacturing a solar cell, including the steps of: applying an antireflective-film-forming solution containing at least one of a metal oxide and a precursor of the metal oxide onto one main surface of a semiconductor substrate; and heating the semiconductor substrate having the antireflective-film-forming solution applied thereon, wherein in the step of applying an antireflective-film-forming solution, the antireflective-film-forming solution is applied in such an atmosphere that a water content is 0 g/m | 11-29-2012 |
20120301999 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN AMORPHOUS/CRYSTALLINE SILICON HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELL - A method for manufacturing a solar cell includes
| 11-29-2012 |
20120302000 | LASER ANNEAL FOR IMAGE SENSORS - A technique for fabricating an image sensor including a pixel circuitry region and a peripheral circuitry region includes fabricating front side components on a front side of the image sensor. A dopant layer is implanted on a backside of the image sensor. A anti-reflection layer is formed on the backside and covers a first portion of the dopant layer under the pixel circuitry region while exposing a second portion of the dopant layer under the peripheral circuitry region. The first portion of the dopant layer is laser annealed from the backside of the image sensor through the anti-reflection layer. The anti-reflection layer increases a temperature of the first portion of the dopant layer during the laser annealing. | 11-29-2012 |
20120322196 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLID-STATE IMAGE SENSOR - A method of manufacturing a solid-state image sensor, comprising preparing a semiconductor substrate including a photoelectric converter and an insulating film which includes an opening and is formed in a region above the photoelectric converter, depositing a material having a refractive index higher than the insulating film in the opening, and annealing the material deposited in the opening by irradiating the material with one of light and radiation, wherein a light waveguide which is configured to guide an incident light to the photoelectric converter is formed through the depositing and the annealing. | 12-20-2012 |
20130005070 | SOLAR CELL - A solar cell according to an embodiment of the invention includes a substrate configured to have a plurality of via holes and a first conductive type, an emitter layer placed in the substrate and configured to have a second conductive type opposite to the first conductive type, a plurality of first electrodes electrically coupled to the emitter layer, a plurality of current collectors electrically coupled to the first electrodes through the plurality of via holes, and a plurality of second electrodes electrically coupled to the substrate. The plurality of via holes includes at least two via holes having different angles. | 01-03-2013 |
20130011957 | METAL INKS - Self-reducing metal inks and systems and methods for producing and using the same are disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, a method may comprise selecting a metal-organic (MO) precursor, selecting a reducing agent, and dissolving the MO precursor and the reducing agent in an organic solvent to produce a metal ink that remains in a liquid phase at room temperature. Metal inks, including self-reducing and fire-through metal inks, are also disclosed, as are various applications of the metal inks. | 01-10-2013 |
20130017646 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING IMAGE SENSOR HAVING BACKSIDE ILLUMINATION STRUCTUREAANM KIM; Sang-hoonAACI Seongnam-siAACO KRAAGP KIM; Sang-hoon Seongnam-si KRAANM PARK; Byung-junAACI Yongin-siAACO KRAAGP PARK; Byung-jun Yongin-si KRAANM AN; Hee-chulAACI Yongin-siAACO KRAAGP AN; Hee-chul Yongin-si KR - A method of manufacturing an image sensor having a backside illumination (BSI) structure includes forming a wiring unit on a front side of a semiconductor substrate, forming an anti-reflective layer in an active pixel sensor (APS) region on a back side of the semiconductor substrate, a photodiode being between the back and front sides of the semiconductor substrate, forming an etch stopping layer on the anti-reflective layer, forming an interlayer insulating layer on the etch stopping layer, the interlayer insulating layer having an etch selectivity with respect to the etch stopping layer, and etching the interlayer insulating layer in the APS region using the etch stopping layer as an etch stopping point. | 01-17-2013 |
20130029450 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a solar cell capable of suppressing volatilization of selenium and deformation of a substrate during a manufacturing process. According to the present invention, the method for manufacturing the solar cell comprises the steps of: providing a substrate; forming a rear electrode on the substrate; forming a precursor film for a light absorption film on the rear electrode; forming a light absorption film by progressing a crystallization process for the precursor film for the light absorption film; forming a buffer film on the light absorption film; forming a window film on the buffer film, and forming an anti-reflection film on the window film; and partially patterning the anti-reflection film, and forming a grid electrode in a patterned area. Said precursor film for the light absorption film includes Cu—Zn—Sn—S (Cu | 01-31-2013 |
20130034928 | PASTE FOR PREPARING MASK PATTERNS AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF SOLAR CELL USING THE SAME - Provided are a paste for preparing etching mask patterns and a manufacturing method of a silicon solar cell using the same. The paste composition for preparing mask patterns is used to form a selective emitter of a silicon solar cell, and includes inorganic powder, an organic solvent, a binder resin, and a plasticizer. The mask patterns prepared from the paste composition have good adhesion with a substrate, thereby preventing edge curling, and have good etching resistant characteristic in an etch-back process for forming a selective emitter, enabling formation of a stable emitter. | 02-07-2013 |
20130045562 | BURIED SELECTIVE EMITTER FORMATION FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES UTILIZING METAL NANOPARTICLE CATALYZED ETCHING - A method of forming a photovoltaic device containing a buried emitter region and vertical metal contacts is provided. The method includes forming a plurality of metal nanoparticles on exposed portions of a single-crystalline silicon substrate that are not covered by patterned antireflective coatings (ARCs). A metal nanoparticle catalyzed etching process is then used to form trenches within the single-crystalline silicon substrate and thereafter the metal nanoparticles are removed from the trenches. An emitter region is then formed within exposed portions of the single-crystalline silicon substrate, and thereafter a metal contact is formed atop the emitter region. | 02-21-2013 |
20130065351 | PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS WITH COPPER GRID - A photovoltaic device, such as a solar cell, having improved performance is provided. The photovoltaic device includes a copper-containing layer that contains an amount of impurities therein which is sufficient to hinder the diffusion of copper into an underlying semiconductor substrate. The copper-containing layer, which is located within a grid pattern formed on a front side surface of a semiconductor substrate, includes an electroplated copper-containing material having an impurity level of 200 ppm or greater located atop at least one metal diffusion barrier layer. | 03-14-2013 |
20130084672 | PROCESS TO FORM AQUEOUS PRECURSOR AND ALUMINUM OXIDE FILM - One disclosed embodiment concerns an aqueous inorganic coating precursor solution comprising a mixture of water, polynuclear aluminum hydroxide cations, and polyatomic ligands selected from nitrate (NO | 04-04-2013 |
20130089943 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SOLAR CELL - An embodiment of the present disclosure provides method of manufacturing a solar cell. The method comprises the steps of providing a silicon substrate, forming a P-N junction structure in the silicon substrate, forming an oxide layer for passivating the surface defect of the substrate that has a low reflectivity for AM1.5G solar spectrum, and forming a plurality of metal electrodes on the silicon substrate. | 04-11-2013 |
20130089944 | SOLAR CELL SILICON WAFER PROCESS - In the production of silicon solar cells wherein the process includes a dopant diffusion to form a pn junction, a back surface field layer, or a front surface field layer, resulting in the formation of a doped glass surface, a HF vapor etch is utilized to remove the doped glass layer and expose the wafer surface. The exposed surface is subjected to an oxygen treatment for predetermined times and temperatures to alter the surface state. The HF vapor etch followed by the oxygen treatment, or chemical oxidation, results in significant improvement in solar cell electrical properties. | 04-11-2013 |
20130095597 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PHOTOELECTRIC DEVICE - A method of manufacturing a solar cell including providing a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type; performing a first deposition process that includes forming a first doping material layer having a second conductivity type different from the first conductivity type; performing a drive-in process that includes heating the substrate having the first doping material layer thereon; performing a second deposition process after performing the drive-in process and including forming a second doping material layer on the first doping material layer, wherein the second doping material layer has the second conductivity type; locally heating portions of the substrate, the first doping material layer, and the second doping material layer with a laser to form a contact layer at a first surface of the substrate; and forming a first electrode on the contact layer and a second electrode on a second surface of the substrate opposite to the first surface. | 04-18-2013 |
20130095598 | BACK-SURFACE FIELD STRUCTURES FOR MULTI-JUNCTION III-V PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - A multi-junction III-V photovoltaic device is provided that includes at least one top cell comprised of at least one III-V compound semiconductor material; and a bottom cell in contact with a surface of the at least one top cell. The bottom cell includes a germanium-containing layer in contact with the at least one top cell, at least one intrinsic hydrogenated silicon-containing layer in contact with a surface of the germanium-containing layer, and at least one doped hydrogenated silicon-containing layer in contact with a surface of the at least one intrinsic hydrogenated silicon-containing layer. The intrinsic and doped silicon-containing layers can be amorphous, nano/micro-crystalline, poly-crystalline or single-crystalline. | 04-18-2013 |
20130109129 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE, METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME, AND CAMERA | 05-02-2013 |
20130122635 | SOLAR CELL AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME - The present invention relates to a solar cell. The solar cell includes a substrate of a first conductive type, an emitter layer of a second conductive type opposite the first conductive type on the substrate, first and second anti-reflection layers that are sequentially positioned on the emitter layer, a first electrode electrically connected to the emitter layer, first to third passivation layers that are sequentially positioned on the substrate, each of the first to third passivation layers including a plurality of exposed portions, and a plurality of second electrodes electrically connected to portions of the substrate exposed by the plurality of exposed portions. | 05-16-2013 |
20130164880 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE AND PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE - A method for producing a photovoltaic device that includes spherical photovoltaic elements and a support with a large number of recesses for receiving the elements one by one and to the photovoltaic device. Each of the spherical photovoltaic elements includes a spherical first semiconductor and a second semiconductor layer covering the first semiconductor. A conductive adhesive is applied to the bottoms of the recesses of the support serving as a second conductor layer. The elements are disposed in the bottoms of the recesses with the conductive adhesive applied thereto, to fix the elements to the support and electrically connect their second semiconductor layers to the support. An electrical insulator layer, which has through-holes serving as conductive paths, is bonded to the backside of the support, and a first conductor layer, which interconnects the electrodes of the first semiconductors of the respective elements, is formed thereon. | 06-27-2013 |
20130171762 | SOLAR CELL SYSTEM MANUFACTURING METHOD - A solar cell system making method includes steps of making a round P-N junction preform by (a) stacking a P-type silicon layer and a N-type silicon layer on top of each other, and (b) forming a P-N junction near an interface between the P-type silicon layer and the N-type silicon layer; stacking the plurality of P-N junction preforms along a first direction and forming an electrode layer between each adjacent two of the plurality of P-N junction preforms; and forming a first collection electrode on a first of the plurality of P-N junction preforms and forming a second collection electrode on a last of the plurality of P-N junction preforms to form a cylindrical solar cell system. Further, a step of cutting the cylindrical solar cell system can be performed. | 07-04-2013 |
20130171763 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING SOLAR CELL AND FILM-PRODUCING DEVICE - Disclosed in a method that is for producing a solar cell and that is characterized by performing an annealing step on a semiconductor substrate before an electrode-forming step. By means of performing annealing in the above manner, it is possible to improve the electrical characteristics of the solar cell without negatively impacting reliability or outward appearance. As a result, the method can be widely used in methods for producing solar cells having high reliability and electrical characteristics. | 07-04-2013 |
20130183792 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - According to one embodiment, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes implanting impurity ions to a semiconductor layer in which an electrode is embedded; forming a light absorption film which absorbs laser light at a side of the electrode to which the laser light is irradiated; and activating the impurity ions by irradiating laser light to the semiconductor layer at which the light absorption film is formed in the forming. | 07-18-2013 |
20130196465 | CONDUCTIVE COMPOSITION AND METHOD FOR MAKING CONDUCTIVE FEATURES ON THIN FILM PV CELLS - A method for forming a conductive feature. The method includes providing a substrate and a conductive composition. The conductive composition includes metal particles, a fluxing agent and a liquid monomer. The method further includes heating the composition to a temperature from about 200 to about 300° C. to fuse metal particles, crosslink the liquid monomer, and form a conductive feature. | 08-01-2013 |
20130203206 | CONDUCTIVE PASTE FOR USE IN PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL AND METHOD OF PRODUCING PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL ELEMENT USING THE SAME - A conductive paste for a photovoltaic cell and a method for producing the photovoltaic cell are disclosed. The conductive paste includes a silver powder, glass frit and a sintering inhibitor that suppresses sintering of the silver powder. The sintering inhibitor contains at least one substance selected from aluminum oxide, silicon oxide and silicon carbide. The method includes forming a first anti-reflective layer on a first region of a main surface of a semiconductor substrate; forming a second anti-reflection layer on a second region of the main surface which is different from the first region; coating the electrically conductive paste onto the second anti-reflective layer on the second anti-reflection layer; and forming a surface electrode in the second region by reacting the second anti-reflection layer with the electrically conductive paste at an elevated temperature. | 08-08-2013 |
20130203207 | PHOTOELECTRIC CONVERSION DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A photoelectric conversion device comprises a photoelectric conversion element disposed at a semiconductor substrate, and a multilayered wiring structure including a plurality of wiring layers disposed over the semiconductor substrate in such a manner to sandwich an interlayer insulation film therebetween. A diffusion suppressing film is disposed at least on the uppermost one of the wiring layers, the diffusion suppressing film serving to suppress diffusion of material forming the uppermost wiring layer; the diffusion suppressing film covers regions of the uppermost wiring layer and the interlayer insulation film corresponding to the photoelectric conversion element; and a lens is disposed with respect to a region of the diffusion suppressing film corresponding to the photoelectric conversion element. | 08-08-2013 |
20130217172 | LASER PROCESSING FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY THIN CRYSTALLINE SILICON SOLAR CELL FABRICATION - Laser processing schemes are disclosed for producing various types of hetero-junction and homo-junction solar cells. The methods include base and emitter contact opening, selective doping, and metal ablation. Also, laser processing schemes are disclosed that are suitable for selective amorphous silicon ablation and selective doping for hetero-junction solar cells. These laser processing techniques may be applied to semiconductor substrates, including crystalline silicon substrates, and further including crystalline silicon substrates which are manufactured either through wire saw wafering methods or via epitaxial deposition processes, that are either planar or textured/three-dimensional. These techniques are highly suited to thin crystalline semiconductor, including thin crystalline silicon films. | 08-22-2013 |
20130224899 | ENHANCING EFFICIENCY IN SOLAR CELLS BY ADJUSTING DEPOSITION POWER - Methods for forming a photovoltaic device include adjusting a deposition power for depositing a buffer layer including germanium on a transparent electrode. The deposition power is configured to improve device efficiency. A p-type layer is formed on the buffer layer. An intrinsic layer and an n-type layer are formed over the p-type layer. | 08-29-2013 |
20130252372 | CONDUCTIVE COMPOSITION AND CONDUCTIVE FEATURE FORMED AT LOW TEMPERATURES - A method for forming a conductive feature. The method includes providing a substrate and providing a conductive composition. The conductive composition includes metal particles, a non-acid protic solvent, and a high polarity solvent. The non-acid protic solvent and high polarity solvent are present in concentrations sufficient to ionize the non-acid protic solvent and remove oxides when heated. The method further includes heating the composition to a temperature less than about 250° C. to form a conductive feature having less than about ten times the resistivity of bulk copper. | 09-26-2013 |
20130267058 | ANTI-REFLECTIVE IMAGE SENSOR - An anti-reflective image sensor and method of fabrication are provided, the sensor including a substrate; first color sensing pixels disposed in the substrate; second color sensing pixels disposed in the substrate; third color sensing pixels disposed in the substrate; a first layer disposed directly on the first, second and third color sensing pixels; a second layer disposed directly on the first layer overlying the first, second and third color sensing pixels; and a third layer disposed directly on portions of the second layer overlying at least one of the first or second color sensing pixels, wherein the first layer has a first refractive index, the second layer has a second refractive index greater than the first refractive index, and the third layer has a third refractive index greater than the second refractive index. | 10-10-2013 |
20130280850 | Methods of Fabricating CMOS Image Sensors - An image sensor device includes a substrate including a light sensing region therein and a reflective structure on a first surface of the substrate over the light sensing region. An interconnection structure having a lower reflectivity than the reflective structure is provided on the first surface of the substrate adjacent to the reflective structure. A microlens is provided on a second surface of the substrate opposite the first surface. The microlens is configured to direct incident light to the light sensing region, and the reflective structure is configured to reflect portions of the incident light that pass through the light sensing region back toward the light sensing region. Related devices and fabrication methods are also discussed. | 10-24-2013 |
20130280851 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES AND METHODS FOR FORMING PATTERNED RADIATION BLOCKING ON A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - Several embodiments for semiconductor devices and methods for forming semiconductor devices are disclosed herein. One embodiment is directed to a method for manufacturing a microelectronic imager having a die including an image sensor, an integrated circuit electrically coupled to the image sensor, and electrical connectors electrically coupled to the integrated circuit. The method can comprise covering the electrical connectors with a radiation blocking layer and forming apertures aligned with the electrical connectors through a layer of photo-resist on the radiation blocking layer. The radiation blocking layer is not photoreactive such that it cannot be patterned using radiation. The method further includes etching openings in the radiation blocking layer through the apertures of the photo-resist layer. | 10-24-2013 |
20130280852 | DEVICE FOR JETTING GAS AND SOLAR CELL MANUFACTURING METHOD USING THE SAME - A device for disposing a gas, the device including: a chamber; a plurality of gas jetting plates disposed in the chamber, each gas jetting plate of the plurality of gas jetting plates including a plurality of gas jetting holes disposed on a surface thereof; and a gas pipe fluidly connected to the gas jetting plate and extending outside the chamber, wherein each gas jetting plate includes a first stage, which is fluidly connected to the gas pipe, and a final stage, which includes the plurality of gas jetting holes. | 10-24-2013 |
20130309803 | RADIATION SENSOR WITH PHOTODIODES BEING INTEGRATED ON A SEMICONDUCTOR SUBSTRATE AND CORRESPONDING INTEGRATION PROCESS - An embodiment relates to a sensor integrated on a semiconductor substrate and comprising at least one first and second photodiode including at least one first and one second p-n junction made in such a semiconductor substrate as well as at least one first and one second antireflection coating made on top of such a first and second photodiode. At least one antireflection coating of such a first and second photodiode comprises at least one first and one second different antireflection layer to make a double layer antireflection coating suitable for obtaining for the corresponding photodiode a responsivity peak at a predetermined wavelength of an optical signal incident on the sensor. An embodiment also refers to an integration process of such a sensor, as well as to an ambient light sensor made with such a sensor. | 11-21-2013 |
20140004649 | CONDUCTIVE PASTE FOR FORMING A SOLAR CELL ELECTRODE | 01-02-2014 |
20140017848 | IR Conveyor Furnace Having Single Belt With Multiple Independently Controlled Processing Lanes - Multi-zone IR solar cell processing furnaces using a single, full-width conveyor belt; selected zones are divided into multiple lanes by upper or/and lower longitudinal divider walls, and heated by high intensity radiation IR lamps backed by a flat plate of ultra-high reflectance ceramic material. Lamp numbers and spacing in each zone/lane can be varied. Power to each lamp, or zone/lane lamp array, both upper and lower, is individually and independently controlled to provide infinite number of temperature profiles in each heating zone/lane. In multi-lane zones the IR lamps are folded, the inner ends being supported by the lane dividers. Lamp external power leads are both accessible from one side of the furnace. The lamp internal filaments include non-radiant and radiant sections arranged so that a pair of radiant sections are aligned in the lamp-folded configuration and disposed over the full width of the solar cell wafers. | 01-16-2014 |
20140024165 | SOLAR CELL EQUIPPED WITH ELECTRODE HAVING MESH STRUCTURE, AND PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING SAME - A solar cell having on a light incident surface side an electrode with both low resistivity and high transparency to promote efficient excitation of carriers using inexpensive materials. The solar cell includes a photoelectric conversion layer, a first electrode layer arranged on the light incident surface side, and a second electrode layer arranged opposed to the first electrode layer. The first electrode layer has a thickness in the range of 10 to 200 nm, and plural penetrating openings, each of which occupies an area in the range of 80 nm | 01-23-2014 |
20140051202 | METHOD OF FABRICATING SOLAR CELL - A method of fabricating a solar cell includes the following steps. At first, a substrate including a doped layer is provided. Subsequently, a patterned material layer partially overlapping the doped layer is formed on the substrate, and a first metal layer is conformally formed on the patterned material layer and the doped layer. Furthermore, a patterned mask layer totally overlapping the patterned material layer is formed on the first metal layer, and a second metal layer is formed on the doped layer not overlapped by the patterned material layer. Then, the patterned mask layer, the first metal layer between the patterned mask layer and the patterned material layer and a part of the patterned material layer are removed. | 02-20-2014 |
20140057385 | III-V PHOTOVOLTAIC ELEMENT AND FABRICATION METHOD - A solar cell structure includes stacked layers in reverse order on a germanium substrate. A heterostructure including an (In)GaAs absorbing layer and a disordered emitter layer is provided in the solar cell structures. Controlled spalling may be employed as part of the fabrication process for the solar cell structure, which may be single or multi-junction. | 02-27-2014 |
20140087511 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL HAVING A SELECTIVE EMITTER - A method for manufacturing a photovoltaic cell with a selective emitter, including the steps of: depositing an antireflection layer including n-type dopants on an n- or p-type silicon substrate, said deposition being, performed in the presence of a chemical compound that accelerates the diffusion of n-type dopant atoms in said substrate; overdoping at least one area of the substrate to form at least one n | 03-27-2014 |
20140106498 | METHOD OF MAKING A REFLECTIVE SHIELD - A method of creating a reflective shield for an image sensor device includes depositing a first dielectric layer on a substrate, wherein a photodiode is on the substrate. The method further includes removing surface topography by performing chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) on the first dielectric layer. The method further includes patterning the substrate to define an area on a surface of the first dielectric layer, wherein the area is directly above the photodiode. The method further includes depositing a layer of a material with high reflectivity on the substrate, wherein the material fills the area on the surface of the first dielectric layer. The method further includes removing excess material with high reflectivity, wherein the reflective shield is formed and is embedded in the first dielectric layer. The method further includes depositing a second dielectric material on the substrate, wherein the second dielectric material covers the reflective shield. | 04-17-2014 |
20140113401 | Image Sensor Device and Method for Making Same - The present invention discloses an image sensor device and a method for making an image sensor device. The image sensor device comprises an optical pixel and an electronic circuit, wherein the optical pixel includes: a substrate; an image sensor area formed in the substrate; a masking layer formed above the image sensor area, wherein the masking layer is formed during a process for forming the electronic circuit; and a light passage above the masking layer for increasing light sensing ability of the image sensor area. | 04-24-2014 |
20140127850 | FORMING HIGH-EFFICIENCY SILICON SOLAR CELLS USING DENSITY-GRADED ANTI-REFLECTION SURFACES - A method (50) is provided for processing a graded-density AR silicon surface ( | 05-08-2014 |
20140162396 | SELECTIVE EMITTER PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICE - A method for fabricating a photovoltaic device includes forming a patterned layer on a doped emitter portion of the photovoltaic device, the patterned layer including openings that expose areas of the doped emitter portion and growing an epitaxial layer over the patterned layer such that a crystalline phase grows in contact with the doped emitter portion and a non-crystalline phase grows in contact with the patterned layer. The non-crystalline phase is removed from the patterned layer. Conductive contacts are formed on the epitaxial layer in the openings to form a contact area for the photovoltaic device. | 06-12-2014 |
20140170800 | SOLAR CELL EMITTER REGION FABRICATION USING SILICON NANO-PARTICLES - Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using silicon nano-particles and the resulting solar cells are described. In an example, a method of fabricating an emitter region of a solar cell includes forming a region of doped silicon nano-particles above a dielectric layer disposed above a surface of a substrate of the solar cell. A layer of silicon is formed on the region of doped silicon nano-particles. At least a portion of the layer of silicon is mixed with at least a portion of the region of doped silicon nano-particles to form a doped polycrystalline silicon layer disposed on the dielectric layer. | 06-19-2014 |
20140186990 | CVD APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FORMING CVD FILM - As the antireflection film of solar cells, a nitride film was used which was conventionally formed by reduced pressure plasma CVD. However, reducing solar cell production costs has been difficult due to high equipment costs and processing costs involved in reduced pressure treatment. By means of a plasma head comprising multiple plasma head unit members which, arranged in rows, apply an electric or magnetic field via a dielectric member and generate plasma, this CVD film production method forms a nitride film with atmospheric pressure plasma CVD using dielectric-barrier discharge. The dielectric discharge is capable of forming a glow discharge plasma stable even at atmospheric pressure, and, by generating and reacting different plasmas from neighboring plasma outlets, it is possible to form a nitride film in atmospheric pressure, making it possible to produce low-cost solar cells. | 07-03-2014 |
20140193941 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL - A method for manufacturing a solar cell includes forming a first electrode on a substrate, removing a portion of the first electrode to form a first electrode opening, forming a light absorbing layer on the first electrode and in the first electrode opening, and applying a laser beam to the substrate to create an interface reaction between the first electrode and at least the light absorbing layer, thereby removing a portion of the light absorbing layer to form a light absorbing layer opening. | 07-10-2014 |
20140206130 | AVALANCHE PHOTODIODES AND METHODS OF FABRICATING THE SAME - Provided are an avalanche photodiode and a method of fabricating the same. The method of fabricating the avalanche photodiode includes sequentially forming a compound semiconductor absorption layer, a compound semiconductor grading layer, a charge sheet layer, a compound semiconductor amplification layer, a selective wet etch layer, and a p-type conductive layer on an n-type substrate through a metal organic chemical vapor deposition process. | 07-24-2014 |
20140235009 | METHOD FOR MAKING AN IMAGER DEVICE - A method for making an imager device including the implementation of the steps of:
| 08-21-2014 |
20140256080 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE PN JUNCTION FABRICATION USING OPTICAL PROCESSING OF AMORPHOUS SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL - Systems and methods for semiconductor device PN junction fabrication are provided. In one embodiment, a method for fabricating an electrical device having a P-N junction comprises: depositing a layer of amorphous semiconductor material onto a crystalline semiconductor base, wherein the crystalline semiconductor base comprises a crystalline phase of a same semiconductor as the amorphous layer; and growing the layer of amorphous semiconductor material into a layer of crystalline semiconductor material that is epitaxially matched to the lattice structure of the crystalline semiconductor base by applying an optical energy that penetrates at least the amorphous semiconductor material. | 09-11-2014 |
20140335647 | PASTE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF SOLAR CELL USING THE SAME - Disclosed are a paste and a method for manufacturing a solar cell through screen printing said paste. The paste contains inorganic powder; an organic solvent; and a binder, and the inorganic powder has a tap density of 0.01 to 20 g/cm | 11-13-2014 |
20140342493 | RADIATION DETECTOR HAVING A BANDGAP ENGINEERED ABSORBER - A radiation detector is provided that includes a photodiode having a radiation absorber with a graded multilayer structure. Each layer of the absorber is formed from a semiconductor material, such as HgCdTe. A first of the layers is formed to have a first predetermined wavelength cutoff. A second of the layers is disposed over the first layer and beneath the first surface of the absorber through which radiation is received. The second layer has a graded composition structure of the semiconductor material such that the wavelength cutoff of the second layer varies from a second predetermined wavelength cutoff to the first predetermined wavelength cutoff such that the second layer has a progressively smaller bandgap than the first bandgap of the first layer. The graded multilayer radiation absorber structure enables carriers to flow toward a conductor that is used for measuring the radiation being sensed by the radiation absorber. | 11-20-2014 |
20140370645 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - An improvement is achieved in the performance of a semiconductor device. In a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, in an n-type semiconductor substrate, a p-type well as a p-type semiconductor region forming a part of a photodiode is formed and a gate electrode of a transfer transistor is formed. Then, after an n-type well as an n-type semiconductor region forming the other part of the photodiode is formed, a microwave is applied to the semiconductor substrate to heat the semiconductor substrate. Thereafter, a drain region of the transfer transistor is formed. | 12-18-2014 |
20150024540 | Device and Method for Producing Thin Films - In an apparatus for producing thin layers on substrates for solar cell production, wherein the thin layers are applied by an APCVD process at temperatures of more than 250° C., the substrates are conveyed on a horizontal conveyor path and coated by means of an APCVD coating in continuous operation. The conveyor path has conveyor rollers, which consist of a temperature-resistant, non-metallic material, preferably of ceramic. A heating device and/or a purge gas feeding device is/are arranged on that side of the conveyor path which is remote from the coating apparatus. | 01-22-2015 |
20150024541 | METHOD FOR FABRICATING PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS WITH PLATED CONTACTS - The disclosed technology relates generally to photovoltaic cells, and more particularly to photovoltaic cells with plated metal contacts. In one aspect, a method of fabricating a photovoltaic cell with a metal contact pattern on a surface of a semiconductor substrate includes locally smoothening portions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate by using a first laser, at predetermined locations. The method additionally includes doping the surface of the semiconductor substrate to form an emitter region. The method additionally includes forming a dielectric layer on the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and subsequently forming openings through the dielectric layer by using a second laser, thereby locally exposing the underlying surface of the semiconductor substrate at the predetermined locations. The method further includes forming metal contacts at exposed regions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate by plating. | 01-22-2015 |
20150037924 | METHODS OF MANUFACTURING LIGHT TO CURRENT CONVERTER DEVICES - Processes for making light to current converter devices are provided. The processes can be used to make light to current converter devices having P-N junctions located on only the top surface of the cell, located on the top surface and symmetrically or asymmetrically along a portion of the inner surface of the via holes, located on the top surface and full inner surface of the via holes, or located on the top surface, full inner surface of the via holes, and a portion of the bottom surface of the cell. The processes may isolate the desired P-N junction by etching the emitter, forming a via hole after forming the emitter, using a barrier layer to protect portions of the emitter from etching, or using a barrier layer to prevent the emitter from being formed on portions of the substrate. | 02-05-2015 |
20150044812 | NON-ACIDIC ISOTROPIC ETCH-BACK FOR SILICON WAFER SOLAR CELLS - A method for solar cell fabrication is provided. The method includes etching a doped surface of a silicon wafer solar cell using a solution including potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). Alternatively the solution could include sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and NaOCl. In one aspect, the step of back-etching an emitter of the solar cell using the KOH:NaOCl solution is simultaneously performed with porous silicon removal. In another aspect, the step of back-etching the emitter of the solar cell using the KOH:NaOCl solution also includes PSG removal. And in yet another aspect, the step of back-etching the emitter of the solar cell using the KOH:NaOCl solution is performed simultaneously with polishing. | 02-12-2015 |
20150050771 | METHOD AND TOOL TO REVERSE THE CHARGES IN ANTI-REFLECTION FILMS USED FOR SOLAR CELL APPLICATIONS - A method is provided for making a solar cell. The method includes providing a stack including a substrate, a barrier layer disposed on the substrate, and an anti-reflective layer disposed on the barrier layer, where the anti-reflective layer has charge centers. The method also includes generating a corona with a charging tool and contacting the anti-reflective layer with the corona thereby injecting charge into at least some of the charge centers in the anti-reflective layer. Ultra-violet illumination and temperature-based annealing may be used to modify the charge of the anti-reflective layer. | 02-19-2015 |
20150056744 | THIN FILM STRUCTURES AND DEVICES WITH INTEGRATED LIGHT AND HEAT BLOCKING LAYERS FOR LASER PATTERNING - Selective removal of specified layers of thin film structures and devices, such as solar cells, electrochromics, and thin film batteries, by laser direct patterning is achieved by including heat and light blocking layers in the device/structure stack immediately adjacent to the specified layers which are to be removed by laser ablation. The light blocking layer is a layer of metal that absorbs or reflects a portion of the laser energy penetrating through the dielectric/semiconductor layers and the heat blocking layer is a conductive layer with thermal diffusivity low enough to reduce heat flow into underlying metal layer(s), such that the temperature of the underlying metal layer(s) does not reach the melting temperature, T | 02-26-2015 |
20150064835 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A SOLAR CELL - The invention relates to a method for producing a solar cell having a substrate made of silicon, which substrate has a silicon oxide layer present on the surface of the substrate and an antireflection layer applied to the silicon oxide layer, which antireflection layer is deposited onto the dielectric passivation layer in a process chamber. According to the invention, in order to achieve a stability of corresponding solar cells or solar cell modules produced therefrom against a potential induced degradation (PID), the dielectric passivation layer is formed from the surface of the substrate in the process chamber by means of a plasma containing an oxidizing gas. | 03-05-2015 |
20150072463 | Methods Of Printing Solar Cell Contacts - Silicon solar cells and contacts thereof are printed in at least a two stage printing process where the busbars and fingerlines may be printed separately. A reduction in silver content in busbars and fingerlines through use of the techniques of the invention have been realized, including the use of certain base metals, while maintaining low contact resistance similar to silver pastes. | 03-12-2015 |
20150079721 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL HAVING A HETEROJUNCTION - A method for producing a heterojunction photovoltaic cell includes formation of at least one anti-glare layer on which at least one metal track is formed. The method includes heat treatment to make the contact connection between the track and the anti-glare layer. The heat treatment selectively applies a laser beam on the track to generate a heat input up to anti-glare layer. | 03-19-2015 |
20150087106 | METHODS OF FORMING THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES WITH DISCONTINUOUS PASSIVATION LAYERS - In various embodiments, photovoltaic devices incorporate discontinuous passivation layers (i) disposed between a thin-film absorber layer and a partner layer, (ii) disposed between the partner layer and a front contact layer, and/or (iii) disposed between a back contact layer and the thin-film absorber layer. | 03-26-2015 |
20150132883 | PHOTO DETECTOR CONSISTING OF TUNNELING FIELD-EFFECT TRANSISTORS AND THE MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF - The present invention belongs to the technical field of optical interconnection and relates to a photo detector, in particular to a photo detector consisting of tunneling field-effect transistors. | 05-14-2015 |
20150132884 | METHOD OF MAKING IMAGE SENSOR DEVICES - A method of forming an image sensor device where the method includes forming a first dielectric layer on a substrate. The method further includes patterning the first dielectric layer to define an area for a reflective shield, where the area defined for the reflective shield is above a photodiode. Additionally, the method includes forming the reflective shield on the substrate by filling the defined area with a high reflectivity material, and the high reflective material comprises a polymer. | 05-14-2015 |
20150325739 | SELECTIVE SELF-ALIGNED PLATING OF HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELLS - A method for forming contacts on a photovoltaic device includes forming a heterojunction cell including a substrate, a passivation layer and a doped layer and forming a transparent conductor on the cell. A patterned barrier layer is formed on the transparent conductor and has openings therein wherein the transparent conductor is exposed through the openings in the barrier layer. A conductive contact is grown through the openings in the patterned barrier layer by a selective plating process. | 11-12-2015 |
20150377703 | Method for Making Wavelength-Selective, Integrated Resonance Detector for Electromagnetic Radiation - Embodiments of the invention are directed to integrated resonance detectors and arrays of integrated resonance detectors and to methods for making and using the integrated resonance detectors and arrays. Integrated resonance detectors comprise a substrate, a conducting mirror layer, an active layer, and a patterned conducting layer. Electromagnetic radiation is detected by transducing a specific resonance-induced field enhancement in the active layer to a detection current that is proportional to the incident irradiance. | 12-31-2015 |
20160005786 | ATOMICALLY PRECISE SURFACE ENGINEERING FOR PRODUCING IMAGERS - High-quality surface coatings, and techniques combining the atomic precision of molecular beam epitaxy and atomic layer deposition, to fabricate such high-quality surface coatings are provided. The coatings made in accordance with the techniques set forth by the invention are shown to be capable of forming silicon CCD detectors that demonstrate world record detector quantum efficiency (>50%) in the near and far ultraviolet (155 nm-300 nm). The surface engineering approaches used demonstrate the robustness of detector performance that is obtained by achieving atomic level precision at all steps in the coating fabrication process. As proof of concept, the characterization, materials, and exemplary devices produced are presented along with a comparison to other approaches. | 01-07-2016 |
20160027840 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE - According to one embodiment, a solid-state imaging device includes a first light-receiving portion and a first light guide layer. The first light-receiving portion is formed in the surface of a semiconductor substrate. The first light guide layer is formed to correspond to a portion above the first light-receiving portion, and has an inverse tapered shape in which the width becomes larger from an upper surface a lower surface. The inverse tapered shape ranges from the upper surface the lower surface. | 01-28-2016 |
20160064576 | LEAKAGE PATHWAY LAYER FOR SOLAR CELL - Leakage pathway layers for solar cells and methods of forming leakage pathway layers for solar cells are described. | 03-03-2016 |
20160104742 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLID-STATE IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS - One or more methods of manufacturing a solid-state image pickup apparatus and one or more methods of manufacturing a light reflection member are provided herein, and one or more embodiments thereof may include forming a first insulating film and forming a photoresist pattern on the first insulating film. Furthermore, one or more embodiments of such methods may include forming an opening portion by removing the first insulating film while having the photoresist pattern serve as a mask and forming a light reflection member on a sidewall of the opening portion formed in the first insulating film. | 04-14-2016 |
20160118434 | Metal Shielding Layer in Backside Illumination Image Sensor Chips and Methods for Forming the Same - A device includes a semiconductor substrate having a front side and a backside. A photo-sensitive device is disposed at a surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the photo-sensitive device is configured to receive a light signal from the backside of the semiconductor substrate, and convert the light signal to an electrical signal. An amorphous-like adhesion layer is disposed on the backside of the semiconductor substrate. The amorphous-like adhesion layer includes a compound of nitrogen and a metal. A metal shielding layer is disposed on the backside of the semiconductor substrate and contacting the amorphous-like adhesion layer. | 04-28-2016 |
20160141438 | SUBSTRATE FOR SOLAR CELL, AND SOLAR CELL - Provided is a substrate for a solar cell, wherein a flat chamfered portion is formed on one corner of a silicon substrate having a square shape in a planar view, or a notch is formed on the corner or close to the corner. This invention makes it possible to easily check the position of the substrate and determine the direction of the substrate in a solar cell manufacturing step, and suppresses failures generated due to the direction of the substrate. | 05-19-2016 |
20160155885 | SOLAR CELL AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME | 06-02-2016 |
20160181464 | METHOD OF FORMING AN INVERTED METAMORPHIC MULTIJUNCTION SOLAR CELL WITH DBR LAYER ADJACENT TO THE TOP SUBCELL | 06-23-2016 |
20160190363 | SOLAR CELL MODULE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A solar cell module and a method for manufacturing the same are disclosed. The method for manufacturing the solar cell module includes applying a low melting point metal on an electrode included in each of a plurality of solar cells, melting the low melting point metal to form a contact layer on the electrode, generating an ultrasonic vibration in the contact layer to remove a surface oxide layer formed on a surface of the electrode, melting a surface metal of the electrode and the contact layer to form a metal connection layer on the surface of the electrode, and connecting the metal connection layer to an interconnector. | 06-30-2016 |
20160197208 | USE OF METAL PHOSPHORUS IN METALLIZATION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES AND METHOD OF FABRICATING SAME | 07-07-2016 |
20160204300 | SOLAR CELL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME | 07-14-2016 |
20160254399 | METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PATTERN USING TRENCH STRUCTURE AND PATTERN MANUFACTURED THEREBY, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLAR BATTERY USING THE MANUFACTURING METHOD AND SOLAR BATTERY MANUFACTURED THEREBY | 09-01-2016 |
20160254408 | METHODS OF FORMING THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES WITH DISCONTINUOUS PASSIVATION LAYERS | 09-01-2016 |