Kanegafuchi Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Other

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

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Nippon Soken, Inc.

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Osaka Transformer Co., Ltd.

Clean Venture 21 Corporation

Yoshihiro Hamakawa

Yoshihisa Tawada

Kazunori Tsuge

Hiroaki Okamoto

Masanobu Izumina

Hideyuki Takakura

Kenji Takada

Kouichi Ishida

Shigetoshi Sugawa

Hideo Yamagishi

Yutaka Hattori

Tadashi Atoji

Mikio Murozono

Keiichi Nomura

Toshio Adachi

Tetsuya Miyagishi

Yoshiteru Nitta

Kouji Okuda

Funio Koike

A photoelectric conversion element is disposed in each of a plurality of recesses of a support. Light reflected by the inside surface of the recess shines on the photoelectric conversion element. The photoelectric conversion element has an approximately spherical shape and has the following structure. The outer surface of a center-side n-type amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer is covered with a p-type amorphous SiC (a-SiC) layer having a wider optical band gap than a-Si does, whereby a pn junction is formed. A first conductor of the support is connected to the p-type a-SiC layer of the photoelectric conversion element at the bottom or its neighborhood of the recess. A second conductor, which is insulated from the first conductor by an insulator, of the support is connected to the n-type a-Si layer of the photoelectric conversion element.

Photovoltaic apparatus and mass-producing apparatus for mass-producing spherical semiconductor particles

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 flexible photovoltaic device includes a flexible substrate and a photovoltaic device body. The flexible substrate is a metal foil or film provided with an electric insulating layer of a material having an electric conductivity of not more than 10.sup.-7 (.OMEGA..cm.).sup.-1 at the time of light impinging and selected from a heat resistant polymer, a metal oxide, a crystalline or amorphous silicon compound and an organometallic compound.

Flexible photovoltaic device

A flexible photovoltaic device includes a flexible substrate and a photovoltaic device body. The flexible substrate is a metal foil or film provided with an electric insulating layer of a material having an electric conductivity of not more than 10.sup.-7 (.OMEGA..multidot.cm.).sup.-1 at the time of light impinging and selected from a heat resistant polymer, a metal oxide, a crystalline or amorphous silicon compound and an organometallic compound.

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 color sensor has a layered body obtained by stacking a first photoelectric sensor which is constituted by an amorphous semiconductor having a 'PIN' structure and a spectral sensitivity which has a peak with respect to blue light and a second photoelectric sensor which is constituted by an amorphous semiconductor having a 'PIN' structure and a spectral sensitivity which has a peak with respect to red light, so that a p-n junction is formed therebetween, and a pair of electrodes with each of the electrodes being provided at a respective end of the body, at least one of the pair of electrodes being transparent. A color measuring apparatus uses the color sensor with a bias voltage supply for supplying three different bias voltages between the sensor and the pair of electrodes, a photo-current detector for detecting photo-currents for each bias voltage and a color discriminator for discriminating incident light color on the basis of the detected photo-currents.

Color sensor with amorphous pin structure

A flexible photovoltaic device includes a flexible substrate and a photovoltaic device body. The flexible substrate is a metal foil or film provided with an electric insulating layer of a material having an electric conductivity of not more than 10.sup.-7 (.OMEGA..multidot.cm.).sup.-1 at the time of light impinging and made of an amorphous silicon nitride containing hydrogen.

A method of forming a substrate for manufacturing single crystal thin films, wherein the substrate is a replica pattern of a monocrystalline or single crystal cleavage plane. Such replica pattern may be formed by pressing a material in a softened state against the cleavage plane of the single crystal, with subsequent hardening, and also, by subjecting the single crystal cleavage plane to vapor deposition or plating, and thereafter removing the formed layer from the single crystal cleavage plane.

Substrate for manufacturing single crystal thin films

The invention is directed to a substrate for manufacturing single crystal thin films, wherein the substrate is a replica pattern of a monocrystalline or single crystal cleavage plane. Such replica pattern may be formed by pressing a material in a softened state against the cleavage plane of the single crystal, with subsequent hardening, and also, by subjecting the single crystal cleavage plane to vapor deposition or plating, and thereafter removing the formed layer from the single crystal cleavage plane.

The invention is directed to a substrate for manufacturing single crystal thin films wherein the substrate is a replica pattern of a monocrystalline or single crystal cleavage plane. Such replica pattern may be formed by pressing a material in a softened state against the cleavage plane of the single crystal, with subsequent hardening, and also, by subjecting the single crystal cleavage plane to vapor deposition or plating, and thereafter removing the formed layer from the single crystal cleavage plane.

A process for preparing an amorphous silicon semiconductor comprising steps of plasma decomposing silicon compounds and carrying out photolysis of the silicon compounds. According to the process, a growth rate of the semiconductor is greatly increased. The obtained amorphous silicon semiconductor has excellent electrical and optical properties and is useful as a photovoltaic element.

Amorphous silicon semiconductor and process for same

The production of a semiconductor by the glow discharge decomposition of a silane type gas is accomplished advantageously by a method which comprises effecting the glow discharge decomposition of introduced silane type gas with a plurality of opposed electrodes disposed substantially perpendicularly to a substrate and insulated from the ground potential and subsequently allowing the product of the decomposition to be deposited on the substrate disposed so as to be exposed to the introduced silane type gas. The semiconductor obtained by this method is free from the drawbacks suffered by the conventional method using a power source of high frequency.

Growing community of inventors

Kawanishi, Japan

Yoshihiro Hamakawa