Nippon Sheet Glass Company, Limited

Other

Yukio Sueyoshi

Akira Fujisawa

Masahiro Hirata

Toru Yamamoto

Yasunori Seto

Tsuyoshi Otani

Kiyotaka Ichiki

Hidemasa Yoshida

Koichiro Kiyohara

Hodaka Norimatsu

Takahiro Asai

Daisuke Arai

Akihiko Hattori

Masatoshi Nara

Hiroki Ando

The present invention provides a thin film-forming method by which, even when a thin film containing a crystalline metal oxide as the main component is formed over a wide area within a short time utilizing a thermal decomposition method, the thickness of the thin film becomes relatively uniform. A thin film-forming method of the present invention includes forming a thin film using a raw material containing a chloride of a metal, and prior to the forming of the thin film, 1) disposing metal-containing particles on the substrate, or 2) forming, at a film deposition rate slower than a film deposition rate for the thin film, a metal-containing thin film on the substrate, and wherein, in the case of the step 2), the thin film containing the metal oxide as the main component is directly formed on the metal-containing thin film.

Method for forming thin film, substrate having transparent electroconductive film and photoelectric conversion device using the substrate

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 transparent conductive film wherein the height number distribution of projections present on the surface is expressed by a distribution function of &#x3c7;type having a degree of freedom of 3.5 to 15 when the unit of the horizontal axis is a nanometer, the height/width ratio number distribution is expressed by a distribution function of &#x3c7;type having a degree of freedom of 10-35&#x3c7;, the projections having a height of 50-350 nm account for 70% of more, and the projections having a height/width ratio of 0.25-1.02 account for 90% or more.

Transparent conductive film and its manufacturing method, and photoelectric conversion device comprising it

The present invention provides a method of forming a thin film containing a metal oxide as the main component, the film thickness of which is relatively uniform, at a high film deposition rate over a wide area and over a long time. The present invention is a method for forming a thin film containing a metal oxide as the main component on a substrate using a mixed gas stream containing a metal chloride, an oxidizing material, and hydrogen chloride, by a thermal decomposition method at a film deposition rate of 4500 nm/min. or greater, performing at least one selected from: 1) prior to mixing the metal chloride and the oxidizing material in the mixed gas stream, contacting hydrogen chloride with at least one selected from the metal chloride and the oxidizing material, and 2) forming a buffer layer in advance on a surface of the substrate on which the thin film containing a metal oxide as the main component is to be formed.

Method for forming thin film, substrate having thin film formed by the method, and photoelectric conversion device using the substrate

On a glass sheet, undercoating layers and a transparent conductive film containing tin oxide as the main component are formed in this order. The surface of the transparent conductive film is provided with roughness including convex portions and concave portions. The convex portions have a mean diameter in a range between 0.05 &mgr;m and 0.3 &mgr;m and include five convex portions or less with diameters of at least 0.5 &mgr;m per 100 &mgr;m of the surface. On the transparent conductive film, a photovoltaic unit and a back electrode are formed, thus obtaining a photoelectric conversion device.

Substrate for photoelectric conversion device, and photoelectric conversion device using the same

A low emissivity (low-E) glass and glass articles made of the low emissivity glass are provided, which permit controlling the solar heat shading property within a certain range without spoiling the transparency and heat insulating property thereof, to thereby realize a comfortable living condition in a wide region of the world or in a wide location of installment. A plurality of metallic oxide based films comprising metallic oxide are laminated on the surface of a glass substrate. The metallic oxide based films include a tin oxide based film containing antimony (SnSbOx film), and a tin oxide based film containing fluorine (SnO :F film), and further may include a tin oxide based film consisting essentially of tin oxide, and a silicon oxide based film. The SnSbOx film contains antimony in an amount of 0.01 to 0.2 in terms of mole ratio relative to an amount of tin (&equals;Sb mol/Sn mol), to avoid an excessive decrease in visible light transmittance.

Low emissivity glass and glass articles made of low emissivity glass

In an optical reflector and a manufacturing method thereof, the reflector is superior in durability and has a high reflectivity to visible light, but not being conspicuous in color tone of reflection. The optical reflector comprises a glass substrate, on which are piled up a film of refractive index n , a film of refractive index n , a film of refractive index n , and a film of refractive index n , sequentially, wherein the thickness of the films are adjusted so that a relationship, n n n n is established among those refractive indices n , n , n and n The film of refractive index n is from 30 nm to 60 nm in the film thickness, a reflectivity to visible light is equal to or greater than 75% upon the surface of the film of refractive index n and the value &lcub;(a*) &plus;(b*) &rcub; is from 0 to 10 when representing the color tone of reflected light upon this film by a* and b* (psychometric chroma coordinates).

Optical reflector and manufacturing method thereof

A transparent substrate, a transparent conductive film, photoelectric conversion units, and a back electrode are stacked sequentially from a side on which light is incident. Further, intermediate films are formed between the transparent substrate and the transparent conductive film. The intermediate films are formed so that the relationship of R <R &times;0.8 is satisfied, wherein R represents an average reflectance in a wavelength region between (&lgr;&minus;50) nm and (&lgr;&plus;50) nm, where &lgr; (nm) represents a wavelength of the light allowing the photoelectric conversion units to have an optimal spectral sensitivity characteristic, and R denotes an average reflectance, in the wavelength region, of the photoelectric conversion device that does not include the intermediate film. In a tandem-type device including plural photoelectric conversion units, intermediate films are formed so that the average reflectance in the wavelength range is decreased in each photoelectric conversion unit. Thus, the conversion efficiency of the photoelectric conversion device is improved.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Yukio Sueyoshi