Method for producing a solar cell
AssigneeHanwha Q Cells GmbH
InventorsAxel Schwabedissen, Matthias Junghänel, Kyung Hun Kim, Fabian Fertig
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Abstract
A method for producing a solar cell, including the following steps: a) providing a substrate having a front side and a back side in a deposition apparatus, and b) coating the substrate in situ with two layers, including b1) oxidizing, by exposing the substrate to an oxygen-containing gas and a first plasma, to create an oxide layer and b2) subsequently depositing a silicon layer or SiC layer by exposure to a gas containing silicon, an optional gas containing carbon and a second plasma, wherein step b) is carried out under vacuum in the deposition apparatus and the vacuum is maintained continuously during step b).
Claims20
A method for producing a solar cell, comprising steps as follows:
- a) providing a substrate having a front side and a back side in a deposition apparatus, and
- b) coating the substrate in situ with two layers, comprising:
- b1) oxidizing the substrate by exposing it to an oxygen-containing gas and to a first plasma, to generate an oxide layer, or depositing the oxide layer by PECVD, and
- b2) subsequently depositing a silicon layer or SiC-layer by exposure to a silicon-containing gas, an optional carbon-containing gas and a second plasma,
- wherein step b) is carried out under vacuum in the deposition apparatus and the vacuum is maintained throughout step b);
- and
- wherein step b) is carried out with a low-pressure plasma having a pressure in a range from 0.1 to 5.0 mbar or 0.1 to 10.0 mbar and/or step b) is carried out with a low-pressure glow discharge having an excitation frequency in a range from 10 to 500 kHz or 30 to 50 kHz and/or in step b) the plasma is pulsed in a range with a duty cycle of Ton/(Ton+Toff)<10% and/or in a range of Ton=1 to 100 ms.
A method for producing a solar cell, comprising steps as follows:
- a) providing a substrate having a front side and a back side in a deposition apparatus, and
- b) coating the substrate in situ with two layers, comprising:
- b1) oxidizing the substrate by exposing it to an oxygen-containing gas and to a first plasma, to generate an oxide layer, or depositing the oxide layer by PECVD, and
- b2) subsequently depositing a silicon layer or SiC-layer by exposure to a silicon-containing gas, an optional carbon-containing gas and a second plasma,
- wherein step b) is carried out under vacuum in the deposition apparatus and the vacuum is maintained throughout step b), and
- wherein:
- the oxygen-containing gas is selected from a group consisting of:
- O2,
- a gas mixture of O2/inert gas, the inert gas being preferably Ar, Ne, Kr or N2,
- an oxygen-containing molecular gas, which is preferably N2O, CO2, NO2, NO or CO, and
- a layer-forming gas mixture, the layer-forming gas mixture being preferably SiH4/O2, SiH4/CO2, AlC3H9/N2O or AlC3H9/N2O/Ar,
- and/or:
- the silicon-containing gas and the optional carbon-containing gas are selected from the group consisting of a gas mixture of SiH4/H2, a gas mixture of SiH4/H2/PH3, a gas mixture of SiH4/H2/B2H6, a gas mixture of SiH4/CH4, a gas mixture of SiH4/CH4/PH3 or a gas mixture of SiH4/CH4/B2H6.
A method for producing a solar cell, comprising steps as follows:
- a) providing a substrate having a front side and a back side in a deposition apparatus, and
- b) coating the substrate in situ with two layers, comprising:
- b1) oxidizing the substrate by exposing it to an oxygen-containing gas and to a first plasma, to generate an oxide layer, or depositing the oxide layer by PECVD, and
- b2) subsequently depositing a silicon layer or SiC-layer by exposure to a silicon-containing gas, an optional carbon-containing gas and a second plasma,
- wherein step b) is carried out under vacuum in the deposition apparatus and the vacuum is maintained throughout step b);
- and
- wherein step b1) is carried out with a deposition rate of <0.2 nm/s or <0.1 nm/s and/or step b1) is carried out with a duty cycle<5% and/or step b1) is carried out at a temperature<500° C. or in a range from 300 to 450° C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.