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US 6,387,780 B1Granted
Fabrication process of solar cell
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorShoji Nishida
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Metal-grade silicon is melted and solidified in a mold to form a plate-shaped silicon layer and a crystalline silicon layer is made thereon, thereby providing a cheap solar cell without a need for a slicing step.
Claims14
A process for fabricating a solar cell including forming a silicon layer on a crystalline silicon substrate by a liquid-phase growth method using a metal solvent, wherein a total concentration of impurities of a surface of said crystalline silicon substrate is 10 ppm or more, which process comprises the steps of:
- melting a surface of said crystalline silicon substrate in a first metal solvent and precipitating a first silicon layer on said crystalline silicon substrate in the first melt solvent;
- and thereafter
- forming a second silicon layer by a liquid-phase growth method using indium as a metal solvent in a hydrogen atmosphere.
A process for fabricating a solar cell comprising the steps of:
- forming a sheet-shaped metal-grade silicon substrate by putting particles of metal-grade silicon in a mold and subjecting said particles to melting and solidifying, wherein said sheet-shaped metal-grade silicon substrate is a crystalline silicon substrate;
- forming a silicon layer on said crystalline silicon substrate by a liquid-phase growth method using a metal solvent, wherein a total concentration of impurities of a surface of said crystalline silicon substrate is 10 ppm or more, wherein said metal solvent is indium, and wherein said liquid-phase growth method is carried out in a hydrogen atmosphere;
- and
- contacting said crystalline silicon substrate with said metal solvent before said forming step.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.