Process for manufacturing a solar cell from a reject semiconductor wafer
AssigneeSilicon Material, Inc.
InventorsJohn E. Lawrence, Icheng Wu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for manufacturing a solar cell from a reject semiconductor wafer comprising stripping all external layers from the wafer, etching the surfaces of the wafer so as to effectively remove all P/N junctions without pitting the wafer surface, introducing a layer of dopant to form a P/N junction in the front wafer surface, forming a first patterned conductive electrode over the dopant layer, and forming a second conductive electrode on the back surface of the wafer. In the preferred embodiment a sputtering operation is used to form the conductive electrodes.
Claims14
A process for manufacturing a solar cell from a reject semiconductor wafer containing process induced contaminants in the silicon bulk latice, comprising:
- stripping all external layers from said wafer;
- etching the surfaces of said wafer so as to effectively remove all P/N junctions;
- introducing a layer of dopant to form a P/N junction in a first of said wafer surfaces;
- forming a first conductive electrode over said layer of dopant;
- and
- forming a second conductive electrode on a second surface of said wafer opposed to said first surface, said solar cell being produced from the reject wafer without gettering to eliminate the process induced contaminants.
A process for manufacturing a solar cell from a reject semiconductor wafer having one type conductivity and containing process induced contaminants in the silicon bulk latice, comprising:
- stripping all external layers from said wafer;
- etching the surfaces of said wafer so as to effectively remove the P/N junctions;
- forming a layer of material having an opposed type conductivity on a first of said wafer surfaces, said first surface providing a P/N junction;
- forming a first conductive electrode over said layer;
- and
- forming a second conductive electrode on a second surface of said wafer opposed to said first surface, said solar cell being produced from the reject wafer without gettering to eliminate the process induced contaminants
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.