Kaneka Corporation

Nippon Sheet Glass Company, Limited

Yuko Tawada

Kenji Yamamoto

Toshiaki Sasaki

Masashi Yoshimi

Akihiko Nakajima

Takashi Suezaki

Takashi Fujibayashi

Katsuhiko Hayashi

Tomomi Meguro

Toru Sawada

Susumu Fukuda

Yohei Koi

Youhei Koi

Tsuyoshi c/o Nippon Sheet Glass Co Ltd Otani

Masahiro c/o Nippon Sheet Glass Co Ltd Hirata

Disclosed are: a transparent electrode having a zinc oxide film wherein initial characteristics and humidity resistance during long-time use coexist; and a thin film solar cell provided with said electrode. The transparent electrode contains a transparent conductive layer mainly made of zinc oxide. The transparent conductive film preferably has the following characteristics: having surface irregularities; a carrier concentration of 9&#xd7;10cmor less; a crystal structure having a (110) preferred orientation; a ratio of a (110) peak intensity to a (002) peak intensity I(110)/I(002) measured by X-ray diffraction being 50 or more; and a crystallite with a (110) orientation has a size of: 23 nm or more and 50 nm or less, in a planar direction parallel to a substrate; and 30 nm or more and 60 nm or less, in a planar direction perpendicular to the substrate.

Transparent electrode for thin film solar cell, substrate having transparent electrode for thin film solar cell and thin film solar cell using same, and production method for transparent electrode for thin film solar cell

Provided is a thin film photoelectric conversion device with maximized output characteristic, which is achieved by improving an uneven current value of a photoelectric conversion cell caused by an uneven film thickness and an uneven film quality of a photoelectric conversion semiconductor layer, which may be generated in scaling up an integrated-type thin film photoelectric conversion device. The thin film photoelectric conversion device includes: a substrate, a transparent electrode layer, a photoelectric conversion unit, and a back electrode layer. An increasing rate &#x394;Zt of the film thickness Zt of the transparent electrode layer along X and an increasing rate &#x394;Zs of the film thickness Zs of the photoelectric conversion unit along X have different signs, wherein one line segment in a parallel direction to a main surface of the substrate is taken as X&#x2033;.

Thin film photoelectric conversion device and method for manufacturing the same

Provided in this invention is a low-cost substrate provided with a transparent conductive film for photoelectric conversion device, which can improve performance of the photoelectric conversion device by enhanced light confinement effect achieved with effectively increased surface unevenness of the substrate. A method for manufacturing said substrate and a photoelectric conversion device using said substrate which can show improved performance are also provided. The substrate provided with the transparent conductive film for the photoelectric conversion device comprises a transparent insulating substrate and a transparent electrode layer containing at least zinc oxide deposited on the transparent insulating substrate, wherein the transparent electrode layer is composed of a double layer structure wherein first and second transparent conductive films are deposited in this order from a substrate side. The transparent conductive film has an average film thickness of 10-500 nm, and the second transparent conductive film has an average film thickness of 300-1,500 nm. The average film thickness of the second transparent conductive film is larger than that of the first transparent conductive film, and an average height difference of the unevenness on the surface of the second transparent conductive film is 10-300 nm, which is larger than that of the first transparent conductive film.

Substrate provided with transparent conductive film for photoelectric conversion device, method for manufacturing the substrate, and photoelectric conversion device using the substrate

The present invention makes it possible to provide a stacked-type thin-film photoelectric conversion device having high photostability, at a high yield rate and significantly reduced production costs. In a stacked-type photoelectric conversion device having an amorphous silicon-based photoelectric conversion unit and a crystalline silicon-based photoelectric conversion unit stacked thereon or vice versa, an amorphous photoelectric conversion layer included in the amorphous photoelectric conversion unit has a thickness of at least 0.03 &#x3bc;m and less than 0.17 &#x3bc;m, a crystalline photoelectric conversion layer included in the crystalline photoelectric conversion unit has a thickness of at least 0.2 &#x3bc;m and less than 1.0 &#x3bc;m, and a silicon oxide layer of a first conductivity type included in the amorphous photoelectric conversion unit and a silicon layer of a second conductivity type included in the crystalline photoelectric conversion unit make a junction.

Stacked-type photoelectric conversion device

An inexpensive substrate for thin film solar cells having improved performance of a thin film solar cell, and a manufacturing method thereof are provided by increasing light trapping effect due to effective increase in unevenness of a substrate for thin film solar cells. Furthermore, a thin film solar cell having improved performance using the substrate is provided. A substrate for thin film solar cells of the present invention has a transparent insulating substrate and a transparent electrode layer deposited thereon including at least zinc oxide (ZnO), the transparent insulating substrate has a fine surface unevenness having a root-mean-square deviation of the surface (RMS) 5 to 50 nm in an interface by a side of the transparent electrode layer, a projected area thereof consists of a curved surface, and furthermore a haze ratio or a ratio of a diffuse transmittance to a total transmittance as an index of unevenness of a substrate may be set at not less than 20% measured using a C light source. And thereby light trapping effect may effectively occur to improve performance of the thin film solar cell.

Substrate for thin-film solar cell, method for producing the same, and thin-film solar cell employing it

A thin film photoelectric converter, especially an integrated thin film photoelectric converter having improved photoelectric conversion efficiency is provided by controlling an open-circuit voltage and a fill factor so as not be small in a thin film photoelectric converter including a crystalline silicon photoelectric conversion unit. The thin film photoelectric converter by the present invention has at least a transparent electrode film, a crystalline silicon photoelectric conversion unit, and a back electrode film formed sequentially on one principal surface of a transparent substrate, and the converter has a whitish discoloring area on a part of a surface of the converter after formation of the crystalline silicon photoelectric conversion unit. A percentage of dimensions of the whitish discoloring area preferably is not more than 5% of a dimension of the photoelectric conversion area. A thin film photoelectric converter of the present invention is preferably an integrated thin film photoelectric converter.

Thin-film photoelectric converter

A hybrid-type thin film photoelectric converter includes a transparent electrode ( ), at least one amorphous photoelectric conversion unit ( ), at least one crystalline photoelectric conversion unit ( ) and a backside electrode ( ), successively stacked on a transparent glass substrate ( ). The transparent electrode ( ) has a thickness of more than 400 nm and less than 1000 nm. A transparent laminated body ( ) including the glass substrate ( ) and the transparent electrode ( ) has a haze ratio of more than 2% and less than 10%.

Hybrid thin-film photoelectric transducer and transparent laminate for the transducer

There is provided a photovoltaic module including a transparent substrate and hybrid photovoltaic cells arrayed on the substrate and series connected to each other, the cells including a back electrode facing the substrate, a transparent front electrode intervening between the substrate and the back electrode, a first photovoltaic layer intervening between the front and back electrodes and including an amorphous semiconductor layer, a second photovoltaic layer intervening between the first photovoltaic layer and the back electrode and including a crystalline semiconductor layer, and a conductive interlayer with a light-transmitting-and-reflecting property intervening between the first and second photovoltaic layers and having a thickness in a range of 10 nm to 100 nm and a specific resistance in a range of 1&times;10 &OHgr;&middot;cm to less than 1&times;10 &OHgr;&middot;cm.

Photovoltaic module

A silicon-based thin film photoelectric conversion device includes a substrate , a back electrode having a light reflecting metal film , at least one silicon-based photoelectric conversion unit and a front transparent electrode , wherein at least one of the light reflecting metal film and the front transparent electrode has that surface thereof closer to the silicon-based photoelectric conversion unit provided with convexities and concavities having a level difference therebetween in a range of 0.01 to 2 &mgr;m and a pitch greater than the level difference and no more than 25 times the level difference.

Growing community of inventors

Otsu, Japan

Yuko Tawada