Kanegafuchi Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Kanegafuchi Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Atsuo Ishikawa

Katsuhiko Hayashi

Masataka Kondo

Shinichiro Kurata

Hideo Yamagishi

Yoshihisa Tawada

Toshihito Endo

An integrated thin-film solar battery having a plurality of unit elements connected in series includes a substrate, a plurality of spaced apart first electrode layers formed on the substrate; a plurality of semiconductor layers disposed on said plurality of first electrode layers in such a manner that each of the semiconductor layers is formed on two adjacent first electrodes and has a connection opening located on one of the two first electrodes, an electrically conductive layer formed on each of the semiconductor layers except on the region of the connection opening, and a second electrode layer disposed on each of the electrically conductive layers such that the second electrode layer is electrically connected to one of the two adjacent first electrode layers through the connection opening, to form a region interposed between the second electrode layer and the other first electrode layer as the unit element.

Integrated thin-film solar battery and method of manufacturing the same

The invention provides two kinds of structures for a thin-film solar cell that is improved in the adhesive strength and reflectance of a back surface electrode layer. According to the first structure, in a thin-film solar cell in which a transparent electrode layer, a thin-film semiconductor layer, and a back surface electrode layer are laid in stated order on an insulative transparent substrate, the back surface electrode layer consists of a first transparent conductive metal compound layer having a smaller refractive index than a semiconductor that constitutes the thin-film semiconductor layer, a second transparent conductive metal compound layer, and a metal layer. The second transparent conductive metal compound layer contains at least one of components of the first transparent conductive metal compound layer and a component of the metal layer. According to the second structure, in a thin-film solar cell in which a transparent electrode layer, a thin-film semiconductor layer, and a back surface electrode layer are laid in order on an insulative transparent substrate, the back surface electrode layer is a layered body consisting of a silver thin film, and an intermediate thin layer containing silver, oxygen, and a metal element constituting a transparent conductive metal oxide.

Thin-film solar cell

A solar module made by the sequential stacking of a conducting metal oxide layer, an amorphous semiconductor layer, a back metal electrode, and a passivating resin layer on a transparent substrate, in which the passivating resin layer includes a water vapor barrier layer having a permeability to water vapor of not more than 1 g/m.sup.2 day measured at a thickness of 100 .mu.m, with the water vapor barrier layer being a polymer having a backbone consisting essentially of carbon and hydrogen. This barrier layer prevents the oxidation of the back metal electrode by water vapor, so that the stability of the module is improved in outdoor use.

Amorphous solar module having improved passivation

Growing community of inventors

Otsu, Japan

Atsuo Ishikawa