Applied Materials, Inc.

Sunpower Corporation

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Other

Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.

Applied Materials Italia S.r.l.

Timothy Weidman

David D Smith

Arulkumar P Shanmugasundram

Kapila P Wijekoon

Alexandros T Demos

Nikolaos Bekiaris

Michael P Stewart

Michael P Nault

Christopher Dennis Bencher

Farhad K Moghadam

Hongbin Fang

Rohit Mishra

Scott Jeffrey Weigel

Robert Parkash Mandal

Christopher S Ngai

Ian Scot Latchford

Paul L Deaton

Timothy B Michaelson

Michael Robert Rice

Kevin P Fairbairn

Jun Zhao

Dian Sugiarto

Yuxiang May Wang

Rick J Roberts

Yonghwa Chris Cha

Dmitry Lubomirsky

Abhijit Basu Mallick

Staffan Westerberg

Yunfeng Lu

James Edward MacDougall

Venkatasubramani Balu

Scott Harrington

Hareesh Thridandam

Lee Arthur Senecal

Srinivas D Nemani

Mehul B Naik

Dan Maydan

Majeed Foad

Barry Lee Chin

Michael D Armacost

Vinay K Shah

Norman L Tam

David S Mui

David H Quach

Olivier Joubert

Yaxin Wang

Yoshitaka Yokota

David J Eaglesham

Josh Harris Golden

Kevin Ray Heier

Tristan Richard Holtam

Fang Mei

Josephine J Chang

Todd Schroeder

Cedric Monget

Rajesh Mani

Nitin K Ingle

Li-Qun Xia

David P Thompson

Michael Xiaoxuan Yang

Michael S Barnes

Sergey D Lopatin

Peter G Borden

Paul F Ma

Jeffrey W Anthis

William R Livesay

Hari K Ponnekanti

Li Xu

Peter I Porshnev

Matthew F Ross

Ramin Emami

Amit Khandelwal

Nicolay Kovarsky

Andrea Baccini

Zhize Zhu

Ian A Pancham

Russell C Ellwanger

Amit Chatterjee

Zhenhua Zhang

Ramakrishna Cheboli

James Edward Mac Dougall

Tristan R Holtam

Li-Quan Xia

James E MacDougal

Marco Gallazzo

Phong H Nguyen

Sunhom (Steve) Paak

Kalyan Sista

Nikhil Krishnan

Avgerinos V (Jerry) Gelatos

Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using substrate-level ion implantation, and resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a method of fabricating a solar cell involves forming a lightly doped region in a semiconductor substrate by ion implantation, the lightly doped region of a first conductivity type of a first concentration. The method also involves forming a first plurality of dopant regions of the first conductivity type of a second, higher, concentration by ion implantation, the first plurality of dopant regions overlapping with a first portion of the lightly doped region. The method also involves forming a second plurality of dopant regions by ion implantation, the second plurality of dopant regions having a second conductivity type of a concentration higher than the first concentration, and the second plurality of dopant regions overlapping with a second portion of the lightly doped region and alternating with but not overlapping the first plurality of dopant regions.

Solar cell emitter region fabrication using substrate-level ion implantation

Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions with differentiated P-type and N-type regions architectures, and resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a back contact solar cell can include a substrate having a light-receiving surface and a back surface. A first polycrystalline silicon emitter region of a first conductivity type is disposed on a first thin dielectric layer disposed on the back surface of the substrate. A second polycrystalline silicon emitter region of a second, different, conductivity type is disposed on a second thin dielectric layer disposed on the back surface of the substrate. A third thin dielectric layer is disposed over an exposed outer portion of the first polycrystalline silicon emitter region and is disposed laterally directly between the first and second polycrystalline silicon emitter regions. A first conductive contact structure is disposed on the first polycrystalline silicon emitter region. A second conductive contact structure is disposed on the second polycrystalline silicon emitter region. Metallization methods, include etching techniques for forming a first and second conductive contact structure are also described.

Metallization of solar cells with differentiated p-type and n-type region architectures

Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using self-aligned implant and cap, and the resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a method of fabricating an emitter region of a solar cell involves forming a silicon layer above a substrate. The method also involves implanting, through a stencil mask, dopant impurity atoms in the silicon layer to form implanted regions of the silicon layer with adjacent non-implanted regions. The method also involves forming, through the stencil mask, a capping layer on and substantially in alignment with the implanted regions of the silicon layer. The method also involves removing the non-implanted regions of the silicon layer, wherein the capping layer protects the implanted regions of the silicon layer during the removing. The method also involves annealing the implanted regions of the silicon layer to form doped polycrystalline silicon emitter regions.

Solar cell emitter region fabrication using self-aligned implant and cap

Metallization of solar cells with differentiated P-type and N-type region architectures

A photoresist vapor deposition system includes: a vacuum chamber having a heating element and cooled chuck for holding a substrate, the vacuum chamber having a heated inlet; and a vapor deposition system connected to the heated inlet for volatilizing a precursor into the vacuum chamber for condensing a photoresist over the substrate cooled by the cooled chuck. The deposition system creates a semiconductor wafer system that includes: a semiconductor wafer; and a vapor deposited photoresist over the semiconductor wafer. An extreme ultraviolet lithography system requiring the semiconductor wafer system includes: an extreme ultraviolet light source; a mirror for directing light from the extreme ultraviolet light source; a reticle stage for imaging the light from the extreme ultraviolet light source; and a wafer stage for placing a semiconductor wafer with a vapor deposited photoresist.

Vapor deposition deposited photoresist, and manufacturing and lithography systems therefor

Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using ion implantation, and resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a method of fabricating alternating N-type and P-type emitter regions of a solar cell involves forming a silicon layer above a substrate. Dopant impurity atoms of a first conductivity type are implanted, through a first shadow mask, in the silicon layer to form first implanted regions and resulting in non-implanted regions of the silicon layer. Dopant impurity atoms of a second, opposite, conductivity type are implanted, through a second shadow mask, in portions of the non-implanted regions of the silicon layer to form second implanted regions and resulting in remaining non-implanted regions of the silicon layer. The remaining non-implanted regions of the silicon layer are removed with a selective etch process, while the first and second implanted regions of the silicon layer are annealed to form doped polycrystalline silicon emitter regions.

Solar cell emitter region fabrication using ion implantation

Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions using ion implantation, and resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a back contact solar cell includes a crystalline silicon substrate having a light-receiving surface and a back surface. A first polycrystalline silicon emitter region is disposed above the crystalline silicon substrate. The first polycrystalline silicon emitter region is doped with dopant impurity species of a first conductivity type and further includes ancillary impurity species different from the dopant impurity species of the first conductivity type. A second polycrystalline silicon emitter region is disposed above the crystalline silicon substrate and is adjacent to but separated from the first polycrystalline silicon emitter region. The second polycrystalline silicon emitter region is doped with dopant impurity species of a second, opposite, conductivity type. First and second conductive contact structures are electrically connected to the first and second polycrystalline silicon emitter regions, respectively.

Provided are methods of depositing hafnium or zirconium containing metal alloy films. Certain methods comprise sequentially exposing a substrate surface to alternating flows of an organometallic precursor and a reductant comprising M(BH)to produce a metal alloy film on the substrate surface, wherein M is selected from hafnium and zirconium, and the organometallic precursor contains a metal N. Gate stacks are described comprising a copper barrier layer comprising boron, a first metal M selected from Hf and Zr, and a second metal N selected from tantalum, tungsten, copper, ruthenium, rhodium, cobalt and nickel; and a copper layer overlying the copper barrier seed layer.

Atomic layer deposition of hafnium or zirconium alloy films

Provided are processes for the low temperature deposition of silicon-containing films using activated SiH-containing precursors. The SiH-containing precursors may have reactive functionality such as halogen or cyano moieties. Described are processes in which halogenated or cyanated silanes are used to deposit SiN films. Plasma processing conditions can be used to adjust the carbon, hydrogen and/or nitrogen content of the films.

Activated silicon precursors for low temperature deposition

Embodiments of the invention also generally provide a solar cell formation process that includes the formation of metal contacts over heavily doped regions that are formed in a desired pattern on a surface of a substrate. Embodiments of the invention also provide an inspection system and supporting hardware that is used to reliably position a similarly shaped, or patterned, metal contact structure on the patterned heavily doped regions to allow an Ohmic contact to be made. The metal contact structure, such as fingers and busbars, are formed on the heavily doped regions so that a high quality electrical connection can be formed between these two regions.

Enhanced vision system for screen printing pattern alignment

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Timothy Weidman