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. 26, 2010
Filed:
Dec. 20, 2006
Denis DE Ceuster, Woodside, CA (US);
Peter John Cousins, Muntinlupa, PH;
Richard M. Swanson, Los Altos, CA (US);
Jane E. Manning, Woodside, CA (US);
Denis De Ceuster, Woodside, CA (US);
Peter John Cousins, Muntinlupa, PH;
Richard M. Swanson, Los Altos, CA (US);
Jane E. Manning, Woodside, CA (US);
Sunpower Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
In one embodiment, active diffusion junctions of a solar cell are formed by diffusing dopants from dopant sources selectively deposited on the back side of a wafer. The dopant sources may be selectively deposited using a printing method, for example. Multiple dopant sources may be employed to form active diffusion regions of varying doping levels. For example, three or four active diffusion regions may be fabricated to optimize the silicon/dielectric, silicon/metal, or both interfaces of a solar cell. The front side of the wafer may be textured prior to forming the dopant sources using a texturing process that minimizes removal of wafer material. Openings to allow metal gridlines to be connected to the active diffusion junctions may be formed using a self-aligned contact opening etch process to minimize the effects of misalignments.