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:
Oct. 08, 1996
Filed:
Nov. 10, 1993
Keishi Saito, Kyoto, JP;
Tatsuyuki Aoike, Nara, JP;
Masafumi Sano, Nara, JP;
Mitsuyuki Niwa, Nara, JP;
Ryo Hayashi, Nara, JP;
Masahiko Tonogaki, Tokyo, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An object of the present invention is to provide a photoelectrical conversion device in which recombination of carriers excited by light is prevented and the open voltage and the carrier range of positive holes are improved and to provide a generating system using the photoelectrical conversion device. The photoelectrical conversion device includes a p-layer, an i-layer, and an n-layer, wherein the photoelectrical conversion device being formed by stacking the p-layer, the i-layer and the n-layer each of which is made of non-single-crystal silicon semiconductor, the i-layer contains germanium atoms, the band gap of the i-layer is smoothly changed in a direction of the thickness of the i-layer, the minimum value of the band gap is positioned adjacent to the p-layer from the central position of the i-layer and both of a valence control agent to serve as a donor and another valence control agent to serve as an acceptor are doped into the i-layer. Further, at least either of the p-layer or the n-layer is formed into a stacked structure consisting of a layer mainly composed of group III elements of the periodic table and/or group V elements of the same and a layer containing the valence control agent and mainly composed of silicon atoms.