The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 27, 1979
Filed:
Apr. 24, 1978
John W Yerkes, Granada Hills, CA (US);
James E Avery, Burbank, CA (US);
Atlantic Richfield Company, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
A process for manufacturing solar cells. Silicon wafers are assembled in a holding jig such as a diffusion boat in pairs with adjacent surfaces of each of the pairs in contact. The thus assembled wafers are subjected to a chemical vapor deposition diffusion step during which a phosphorous pentoxide glass layer is formed predominantly on the exposed surfaces and side edges of the wafers along with a PN junction thereunder. A small amount of the phosphorous pentoxide glass is also formed on the surfaces which are in contact with each other particularly at the outer edges thereof. The wafers are then reassembled in such a manner that the surfaces having the phosphorous pentoxide layer thereon are placed in contact with each other and again the wafers are placed in a holding jig. The thus assembled wafers are then placed in a plasma etching reactor for removal of the phosphorous pentoxide glass layer and the underlying PN junction from the side edges and the surfaces opposite the surfaces exposed during the previous diffusion step.