International Business Machines Corporation

Susan Huang

Qiang Huang

John Michael Cotte

Jeffrey Curtis Hedrick

Harold John Hovel

Laura Louise Kosbar

Satyavolu S Papa Rao

Young-Hee Kim

Ronald Dean Goldblatt

Kathryn C Fisher

Brett Caroline Baker-O'Neal

Roland Yudadibrata Utama

Shu-Yun Chong

Rob Steeman

Photovoltaic devices are formed by laser drilling vias through silicon substrates and, following surface preparation of the via sidewalls, plating a continuous, electrically conductive layer on the via sidewalls to electrically connect the emitter side of the cell with the back side of the cell. The electrically conductive layer can be formed on portions of a base emitter within the vias and on the back side of the substrate. Alternatively, the electrically conductive layer can be formed on a passivation layer on the via sidewalls and back side of the cell.

Method for fabricating a photovoltaic device by uniform plating on dielectric passivated through-wafer vias and interconnects

Method for fabricating a photovoltaic device by uniform plating on emitter-lined through-wafer vias and interconnects

A stack of a first anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer and a titanium layer is formed on a front surface of a semiconductor substrate including a p-n junction, and is subsequently patterned so that a semiconductor surface is physically exposed in metal contact regions of the front surface of the semiconductor substrate. The remaining portion of the titanium layer is converted into a titania layer by oxidation. A metal layer is plated on the metal contact regions, and a copper line is subsequently plated on the metal layer or a metal semiconductor alloy derived from the metal layer. A second ARC layer is deposited over the titania layer and the copper line, and is subsequently patterned to provide electrical contact to the copper line.

Integration of a titania layer in an anti-reflective coating

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Mount Kisco, NY, United States of America

Susan Huang