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. 18, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 03, 1997
Shotaro Okabe, Nara, JP;
Yasushi Fujioka, Soraku-gun, JP;
Masahiro Kanai, Soraku-gun, JP;
Akira Sakai, Soraku-gun, JP;
Tadashi Sawayama, Soraku-gun, JP;
Yuzo Kohda, Kyotanabe, JP;
Tadashi Hori, Nara, JP;
Takahiro Yajima, Soraki-gun, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The photovoltaic element of the present invention is a photovoltaic element comprised of a semiconductor-junctioned element, characterized in that the element includes a first electrically conductive type semiconductor layer, a non-crystalline i type semiconductor layer, a microcrystalline i type semiconductor layer and a microcrystalline second electrically conductive type semiconductor layer and is pin-junctioned, and a method of and an apparatus for manufacturing the same are characterized by efficiently and continuously mass-producing the photovoltaic element having an excellent current-voltage characteristic and excellent photoelectric conversion efficiency. Thereby, there are provided a photovoltaic element in which the junction interface between the non-crystalline i type layer and the microcrystalline electrically conductive type layer has good grating consistency and which has an excellent current-voltage characteristic and excellent photoelectric conversion efficiency, and a method of and an apparatus for continuously mass-producing the same.