Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Hiroya Yamarin

Hidetada Tokioka

Tae Orita

Tsutomu Matsuura

Mikio Yamamuka

Yuki Tsuda

A thin-film photoelectric converter in which a first electrode layer formed of a transparent conductive material, a photoelectric conversion layer for photoelectric conversion, and a second electrode layer formed of a conductive material that reflects light are stacked in that order on an insulating light-transmitting substrate. The photoelectric conversion layer and the second electrode layer are divided by dividing grooves into islands that form a plurality of photoelectric conversion cells separated from each other, adjacent ones of the plurality of photoelectric conversion cells separated by the dividing grooves being electrically connected in series. The photoelectric conversion layer includes: a first semiconductor layer including a microcrystalline structure; and a second semiconductor layer including an amorphous structure, the second semiconductor layer being disposed so as to surround all side wall portions of the first semiconductor layer that extend in in-plane directions of the insulating light-transmitting substrate.

Thin-film photoelectric converter

A back contact heterojunction photoelectric conversion device, that obtain junctions that are nearly ohmic contacts by integrally forming a transparent conductive film including an electrode directly on a p-type amorphous silicon film and a transparent conductive oxide directly on an n-type amorphous silicon film. A method of manufacturing the device includes: integrally forming an oxide electrode layer on the n-type amorphous silicon film and the p-type amorphous silicon film; and applying plasma, under a condition that a mask is disposed on the transparent conductive film covering either the n-type amorphous silicon film or the p-type amorphous silicon film, to exposed portions of transparent conductive film.

Photovoltaic element and method of manufacturing the same, and solar battery module

This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a substrate for photoelectric conversion device including, on a substrate, a first electrode layer formed of a transparent conductive material. The method includes a first transparent conductive film forming step of forming a first transparent conductive film on the substrate, a second transparent conductive film forming step of forming a second transparent conductive film under a film forming condition that an etching rate is low compared with the first transparent conductive film at a later etching step, and an etching step of wet-etching the second and first transparent conductive films to form recesses that pierce through at least the second transparent conductive film, with the bottoms of the recesses being present in the first transparent conductive film.

Substrate for photoelectric conversion device and method of manufacturing the substrate, thin-film photoelectric conversion device and method of manufacturing the thin-film photoelectric conversion device, and solar cell module

A photoelectric conversion device is provided in which a first photoelectric conversion module having a plurality of first photoelectric conversion elements formed on one surface of a first translucent insulated substrate and a second photoelectric conversion module having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements formed on one surface of a second translucent insulated substrate are bonded together with the first photoelectric conversion elements and the second photoelectric conversion elements placed on an inner side. The photoelectric conversion device includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion element pairs formed by electrically connecting, in series, the first photoelectric conversion elements and the second photoelectric conversion elements arranged in positions opposed to each other. All the photoelectric conversion element pairs are electrically connected in series.

Photoelectric conversion device and method of manufacturing the same

A plasma CVD apparatus includes: a film forming chamber; a holding member that holds a substrate to be processed that is set in the film forming chamber; a shower head that is set in the film forming chamber to face the holding member, and supplies raw material gas and generates a plasma of the raw material gas; a radical generation chamber that is set at an opposite side of the shower head relative to the holding member and generates radicals of process gas; and an openable and closable shutter that is provided between the shower head and the radical generation chamber.

Plasma CVD apparatus, method for manufacturing semiconductor film, method for manufacturing thin-film solar cell, and method for cleaning plasma CVD apparatus

A method for manufacturing a thin-film photoelectric conversion device includes forming a first electrode layer, a photoelectric conversion layer having three conductive semiconductor layers laminated thereon, and a second electrode layer sequentially laminated in this order on a translucent insulating substrate, such that adjacent thin-film photoelectric conversion cells are electrically connected in series, isolating a thin-film photoelectric conversion cell into a plurality of thin-film photoelectric conversion cells by forming isolation trenches that reach from the second electrode layer to the first electrode layer, removing a part of sidewalls at an external periphery of the thin-film photoelectric conversion cells positioned at an external peripheral edge of the thin-film photoelectric conversion device, along with the external periphery, and modifying into insulation layers by performing an oxidation process on all of the sidewalls of the isolation trenches of the photoelectric conversion layer and all of the sidewalls at the external periphery.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hiroya Yamarin