Other

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Nippon Soken, Inc.

Osaka Transformer Co., Ltd.

Hiroaki Okamoto

Yoshihiro Hamakawa

Kenji Takada

Kouichi Ishida

Shigetoshi Sugawa

Yutaka Hattori

Tadashi Atoji

Keiichi Nomura

Toshio Adachi

Yoshiteru Nitta

Kouji Okuda

A solid state image sensing device having a semiconductor substrate, a first diffusion region of a positive or negative conductive type provided on the semiconductor substrate, a plurality of second diffusion regions each of which is an opposite conductive type relative to the first diffusion region and is provided in the first diffusion region, and a semiconductor thin layer provided on at least the second diffusion regions.

Method for manufacturing a solid state image sensing device

Solid state image sensing device

A high performance thin film semiconductor device having a heterojunction such as a photoelectric conversion device is disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, the thin film semiconductor device comprises a thin semiconductor layer which forms a heterojunction with a non-single crystal silicon layer or non-single crystal silicon-germanium layer, wherein the valence band discontinuity at the heterointerface arising from the difference in optical energy bandgap is as small as 0.3 eV or less and wherein the thin semiconductor layer has an optical energy bandgap greater than 2.8 eV, so that hole transport performance may not be degraded. Such a thin semiconductor layer may be formed by using silane gas and methane gas with a flow rate ratio greater than 30 at a deposition rate less than 0.5 .ANG./sec.

Thin film semiconductor device and photoelectric conversion device using

A microcrystalline silicon-containing silicon carbide semiconductor film has an optical energy gap of not less than 2.0 eV, and a dark electric conductivity of less than 10.sup.-6 Scm.sup.-1. The Raman scattering light of the microcrystalline silicon-containing silicon carbide semiconductor film, which shows the presence of silicon crystal phase, has a peak in the vicinity of 530 cm.sup.-1. This microcrystalline silicon-containing silicon carbide semiconductor film is formed on a substrate by preparing a mixture gas having a hydrogen dilution rate .gamma., which is the ratio of the partial pressure of hydrogen gas to the sum of the partial pressure of a silicon-containing gas and the partial pressure of a carbon-containing gas, of 30, transmitting microwave of a frequency of not less than 100 MHz into the mixture gas near a substrate with an electric power density of not less than 4.4.times.10.sup.-2, and generating plasma at a temperature of the substrate of not less than 200.degree. C. and under a gas pressure of not less than 10.sup.-2 Torr.

Method of forming microcrystalline silicon-containing silicon carbide

A photovoltaic device comprising at least one crystalline and one amorphous semiconductor region with different photosensitivity is provided to absorb light in a wide range of wavelength, and serves, for example, as a solar battery or a color sensor. Amorphous or microcrystalline semiconductor regions comprising those devices can be deposited easily and in a continuous manufacturing process by the use of a low temperature process, and this allows manufacture of a photovoltaic device at low cost.

Photovoltaic device

A photovoltaic device including a plurality of amorphous silicon unit cells each having a p-i-n structure layered in succession on a substrate made of stainless steel. A transparent electrically conductive layer, for withdrawing a photoelectromotive force in cooperation with the electrically conductive substrate, is formed on the uppermost unit cell, so that rays of light may be incident upon the photovoltaic device from the uppermost unit cell. Preferably, the thickness of the unit cells closer to the light incidence surface is selected to be less than the thickness of the unit cells farther from the light incident surface. Each of the unit cells is structured such that the n type, i type and p type layers are disposed in the above described order from the light incidence surface in terms of the impurity type.

Growing community of inventors

Kawanishi, Japan

Hiroaki Okamoto