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:
Dec. 02, 1997
Filed:
May. 26, 1995
Keiichi Sano, Moriguchi, JP;
Yoichiro Aya, Hirakata, JP;
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Moriguchi, JP;
Abstract
A photovoltaic element is produced by forming a plurality of layers of amorphous semiconductor thin films on a substrate, whereby at least one of the plurality of layers contains an impurity that hinders crystallization resulting from thermal annealing, and then thermally annealing the amorphous semiconductor thin films thereby crystallizing the film except for the layer containing the impurity. In the finished photovoltaic element, the resulting crystalline semiconductor film and the non-crystallized, amorphous semiconductor film can form a heterojunction. The amorphous film can be arranged closer to the substrate, i.e. between the crystalline film and the substrate.