Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120174960 | SOLAR CELL, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL, AND SOLAR CELL MODULE - Disclosed is a solar cell which is provided with: a semiconductor substrate having a light-receiving surface and a non-light-receiving surface; a PN junction section formed on the semiconductor substrate; a passivation layer formed on the light-receiving surface and/or the non-light-receiving surface; and power extraction electrodes formed on the light-receiving surface and the non-light-receiving surface. The solar cell is characterized in that the passivation layer includes an aluminum oxide film having a thickness off 40 nm or less. As a result of forming a aluminum oxide film having a predetermined thickness on the surface of the substrate, it is possible to achieve excellent passivation performance and excellent electrical contact between silicon and the electrode by merely firing the conductive paste, which is conventional technology. Furthermore, an annealing step, which has been necessary to achieve the passivation effects of the aluminum oxide film in the past, can be eliminated, thus dramatically reducing costs. | 07-12-2012 |
20130081691 | COATING FLUID FOR BORON DIFFUSION - A coating fluid comprising a boron compound, an organic binder, a silicon compound, an alumina precursor, and water and/or an organic solvent is used to diffuse boron into a silicon substrate to form a p-type diffusion layer. The coating fluid is spin coated onto the substrate to form a uniform coating having a sufficient amount of impurity whereupon a p-type diffusion layer having in-plane uniformity is formed. | 04-04-2013 |
20130133738 | FIRING FURNACE FOR FIRING ELECTRODE OF SOLAR CELL ELEMENT, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL ELEMENT, AND SOLAR CELL ELEMENT - Disclosed is a firing furnace for firing an electrode of a solar cell element, which is provided with: a transfer member, which transfers a substrate having a conductive paste applied thereto; a heating section, which heats the substrate and fires the conductive paste; and a cooling section, which cools the heated substrate. The furnace is also provided with a heating means for heating the transfer member. Specifically, at the time of firing the electrode paste using the wire-type firing furnace, since a wire is fired at a temperature substantially equivalent to the ambient temperature of the heating section, deterioration of yield due to having the electrode damaged by a deposited material of the metal component of the conductive paste is suppressed, said deposited material being deposited on the wire, and the wire-type firing furnace can be continuously used. | 05-30-2013 |
20130153026 | 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. | 06-20-2013 |
20130161313 | HEAT-TREATMENT FURNACE - The disclosed heat-treatment furnace, used in a semiconductor-substrate heat-treatment step, is characterized by the provision of a cylindrical core, both ends of which have openings sized so as to allow insertion and removal of semiconductor substrates. This reduces standby time between batches during consecutive semiconductor heat treatment, thereby improving productivity. Furthermore, the use of a simple cylindrical shape for the structure of the core reduces the frequency at which gas-introduction pipe sections fail, thereby decreasing the running cost of the heat-treatment process. | 06-27-2013 |
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 |
20130206229 | SOLAR CELL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME - A method of manufacturing a solar cell, including the steps of: forming an SiNx film over a second principal surface of an n-type semiconductor substrate; forming a p-type diffusion layer over a first principal surface of the n-type semiconductor substrate after the SiNx film forming step; and forming an SiO | 08-15-2013 |
20130247957 | SOLAR CELL AND SOLAR-CELL MODULE - A solar cell has: an emitter layer formed on a light-receiving-surface side of a crystalline silicon substrate, with a dopant of the opposite conductivity type from the silicon substrate added to the emitter layer, a passivation film formed on the surface of the silicon substrate, an extraction electrode and a collector electrode. The extraction electrode extracts photogenerated charge from the silicon substrate and the collector electrode collects the charge collected at the extraction electrode. The extraction electrode contains a first electrode that consists of a sintered conductive paste. The first electrode, at least, is formed so as to pass through the passivation layer. The collection electrode contains a second electrode that has a higher conductivity than the first electrode. This solar cell reduces contact-resistance losses between the silicon and the electrodes, resistance losses due to electrode resistance, and optical and electrical losses in the emitter layer. | 09-26-2013 |
20130247974 | SOLAR CELL AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF - Disclosed is a solar cell having a silicon monocrystal substrate surface with a textured structure and, near the surface of said substrate, a damage layer reflecting the slice processing history from the time of manufacture of the silicon monocrystal substrate. The damage layer near the surface of the silicon monocrystal substrate is derived from the slice processing history at the time of manufacture of the substrate and functions as a gettering site, contributing to a longer lifetime of the substrate minority carriers. Thanks to this effect, the solar cell characteristics are dramatically increased. Further, new damage need be inflicted, and no additional work is required because damage from the slicing is used. | 09-26-2013 |
20130255747 | SOLAR CELL AND SOLAR-CELL MODULE - A solar cell has a passivation film formed on a crystalline silicon substrate that has at least a p-n junction, and an electrode formed by printing and heat-treating a conductive paste. The solar cell has a first electrode comprising an extraction electrode, which extracts photogenerated carriers from the silicon substrate, formed so as to contact the silicon substrate and a second collector electrode, which collects the carriers collected at the extraction electrode, formed so as to contact the first electrode. Other than the point of contact between the first electrode and the second electrode, at least, the second electrode contacts the silicon substrate only partially or not at all. By leaving the passivation film between the collector electrode and the silicon, either completely or partially, the solar cell reduces charge losses at electrode/silicon interfaces, improves the short-circuit current and open voltage, and yields improved characteristics. | 10-03-2013 |
20130284263 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SOLAR CELL ELEMENT AND SOLAR CELL ELEMENT - Provided is a method for manufacturing a solar cell element that can increase the film thickness for collector electrodes formed in a screen printing process and reduce the resistance value of the same as well as contribute to improvements in conversion efficiency. When a collector electrode for a solar cell element is formed by screen printing of a conductive paste, that screen-printing process is repeated a plurality of times. At this time, the squeegee speed during the second or later screen printing is faster than the squeegee speed during the first screen printing. The second and later screen printing is superimposed on the collector electrode printed the first time; therefore, the faster the squeegee speed is, the better the plate release is for the paste and foundation. The amount of paste applied increases, and the film for the collector electrode that is formed becomes thicker. | 10-31-2013 |
20130291743 | SCREEN PRINTING PLATE FOR SOLAR CELL AND METHOD FOR PRINTING SOLAR CELL ELECTRODE - The present invention relates to screen printing plate for a solar cell in which an electroconductive paste is used to simultaneously print a bus bar electrode and a finger electrode, the screen printing plate characterized in that the opening width of a finger electrode opening of the screen printing plate is less than 80 μm and a bus bar electrode opening of the screen printing plate has a closed section. The use of this screen printing plate makes it possible to reduce the cost of manufacturing solar cells, prevent the connecting section between the bus bar electrode and the finger electrode from breaking without causing an increase in shadow loss or compromising the aesthetic quality of the solar cells, and manufacture highly reliable solar cells with good productivity. | 11-07-2013 |