Nippon Sheet Glass Company, Limited

Other

Pilkington Group Limited

Yasunori Seto

Akira Fujisawa

Nobuyuki Yamamoto

Akihiro Koyama

Isamu Kuroda

Yukio Sueyoshi

Masahiro Hirata

Hidemasa Yoshida

Tsuyoshi Otani

David Alan Strickler

Douglas Martin Nelson

Kevin David Sanderson

Michel J Soubeyrand

Ian Ross Williams

Koichiro Kiyohara

Keiko Tsuri

Kevin D Sanderson

The invention relates to an apparatus for depositing thin film coatings on a substrate. The deposition apparatus is designed to keep gaseous reactant materials to be deposited apart from one another in the deposition apparatus, by one or more separation devices and/or methods, but nevertheless, to allow the chemical reactants to mix and react at or near the substrate surface, rapidly enough to create a uniform film at commercially viable deposition rates.

Apparatus for depositing thin film coatings and method of deposition utilizing such apparatus

The present invention provides a transparent substrate with a transparent conductive film that is thin but has a surface with concavities and convexities of increased height. A manufacturing method of the present invention includes a process of forming a transparent conductive film containing crystalline metal oxide as its main component on a transparent substrate by a pyrolytic oxidation method. In the method, a gaseous material containing a metal compound, an oxidizing material, and hydrogen chloride is supplied onto the transparent substrate. The process includes sequentially: a first step in which a mole ratio of the hydrogen chloride to the metal compound in the gaseous material is 0.5 to 5; and a second step in which the mole ratio is 2 to 10 and is higher than the mole ratio to be employed in the first step. With the present invention, a transparent substrate with a transparent conductive film can be provided that has a haze ratio of at least 15% and includes a transparent conductive film whose thickness is 300 nm to 750 nm.

Transparent substrate with transparent conductive film, method of manufacturing the same, and photoelectric conversion element including the substrate

The present invention provides a transparent conductive substrate having optical transparency and conductivity that have been improved in a well-balanced manner. The transparent conductive substrate of the present invention includes a transparent base and a conductive metal oxide film formed on the base. This metal oxide film contains tin and fluorine. In a profile of the metal oxide film determined in the depth direction by SIMS, the value obtained by subtracting the minimum Imin of the ratio of sensitivity of the fluorine to that of the tin from the maximum Imax thereof is at least 0.15. The maximum Imax is higher than 1 while the minimum Imin is lower than 1. Furthermore, the position where the maximum Imax is obtained is closer to the surface of the metal oxide film as compared to the position where the minimum Imin is obtained.

Transparent conductive substrate, method of manufacturing the same, and photoelectric conversion element

A high transmittance glass sheet is provided that is formed of a soda-lime-silica glass composition containing, expressed in wt. %, less than 0.020% of total iron oxide in terms of FeOand 0.006 to 2.0% of zinc oxide. The glass sheet allows the formation of nickel sulfide particles to be suppressed by the addition of a zinc compound to a glass raw material.

High transmittance glass sheet and method of manufacturing the same

The present invention is to provide a high transmittance glass sheet that has a composition containing as coloring components, expressed in wt. %, 0.005 to less than 0.02% of total iron oxide in terms of FeO, less than 0.008% of FeO, and 0 to 0.25% of cerium oxide and having a ratio of FeO in terms of FeOto the total iron oxide of lower than 40%, and exhibits high visible light transmittance and solar radiation transmittance. Alternatively, a high transmittance glass sheet is provided that contains not more than 0.06% of total iron oxide and 0.025 to 0.20% of cerium oxide and has a ratio of a fluorescence intensity at 395 nm to a fluorescence intensity at 600 nm of 10% or higher when subjected to ultraviolet irradiation at a wavelength of 335 nm.

Flat glass having high transmittance

A high transmittance glass sheet is provided that is formed of a soda-lime-silica glass composition containing, expressed in wt. %, less than 0.020% of total iron oxide in terms of Fe O and 0.006 to 2.0% of zinc oxide. The glass sheet allows the formation of nickel sulfide particles to be suppressed by the addition of a zinc compound to a glass raw material.

On a glass sheet, an undercoating layer and a conductive film containing tin oxide as a main component are formed suitably in this order. On the conductive film, a photoelectric conversion unit and a back electrode are formed, thus obtaining a thin film photoelectric conversion device. In the present invention, the absorption coefficient of this conductive film is decreased up to 1.2&times;10 cm or less. In another embodiment of the present invention, the chlorine concentration in a conductive film is set to be 0.11 wt. % or lower and the fluorine concentration in the conductive film is equal to or higher than the chlorine concentration. In still another embodiment, in a wavelength of 550 nm, a conductive film is formed so that a glass sheet with a conductive film has a transmittance of at least 79% and a haze ratio of at least 4%.

Glass sheet with conductive film, method of manufacturing the same, and photoelectric conversion device using the same

When a transparent conductive film formed on a glass sheet is heat-treated in the air, its conductivity decreases. Even if the conductivity is increased by a heat treatment in a nitrogen atmosphere or the like beforehand, it decreases considerably by heating in the air during a processing step to obtain a final product. The present invention provides a glass sheet with a transparent conductive film, in which the increasing rate of its sheet resistance is 15% or lower even after heating at 450&deg; C. in the air for three hours.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Yasunori Seto