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:
Aug. 08, 1995
Filed:
Nov. 07, 1994
Keishi Saito, Nagahama, JP;
Jinsho Matsuyama, Nagahama, JP;
Toshimitsu Kariya, Nagahama, JP;
Koichi Matsuda, Nagahama, JP;
Yuzo Koda, Nagahama, JP;
Naoto Okada, Nagahama, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An object of the present invention is to provide a photovoltaic device and a method of producing the photovoltaic device which can prevent recombination of photo-excited carriers and which permits increases in the open circuit voltage and the carrier range. The photovoltaic device of the present invention has a laminate structure composed of at least a p-type layer of a silicon non-single crystal semiconductor, a photoactive layer having a plurality of i-type layers, and an n-type layer. The photoactive layer has a laminate structure composed of a first i-type layer deposited on the side of the n-type layer by a microwave plasma CVD process, and a second i-type layer deposited on the side of said the p-type layer by an RF plasma CVD process. The first i-type layer deposited by the microwave plasma CVD process contains at least silicon and carbon atoms, and has a minimum band gap between the center thereof and the p-type layer, and the second i-type layer deposited by the RF plasma CVD process contains at least silicon atoms and has a thickness of 30 nm or less.