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:
Nov. 25, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 15, 2002
Shunichi Ishihara, Kyoto, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A thin film polycrystalline solar cell which includes a substrate, a first semiconductor layer provided on the substrate and including Si highly doped with a conductivity-type controlling impurity, a second semiconductor layer provided on the first semiconductor layer and including polycrystalline Si slightly doped with a conductivity-type controlling impurity of the same conductivity-type as that of the first semiconductor layer, and a third semiconductor layer provided on the second semiconductor layer and highly doped with a conductivity-type controlling impurity of a conductivity-type opposite to that of the impurities for the doping of the first and the second semiconductor layers. Crystal grains grown from crystal nuclei generated in the first semiconductor layer are continuously grown to form the first and second semiconductor layers, are horizontally grown to contact neighboring crystal grains, and are perpendicularly grown to form an interface with the third semiconductor layer.