Method of forming silicon-based thin film, method of forming silicon-based semiconductor layer, and photovoltaic element

Abstract

The method of the present invention is a method of forming a silicon-based semiconductor layer by introducing a source gas into a vacuum vessel and forming a silicon-based semiconductor layer containing a microcrystal on a substrate introduced into the vacuum vessel by plasma CVD, which comprises a first step of forming a first region with a source gas containing halogen atoms, and a second step of forming a second region on the first region under a condition where the source gas containing halogen atoms in the second step is lower in gas concentration than that of the first step, thereby providing a method of forming a silicon-based semiconductor layer having an excellent photoelectric characteristic at a film forming rate of an industrially practical level and a photovoltaic element using the silicon-based semiconductor layer formed by the method.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.