Thin-film photoelectric conversion device and method for manufacturing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9865762-B2
Application number	US-201314430540-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2013
Priority date	Sep 28, 2012
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

The thin-film photoelectric conversion device of the present invention includes: a transparent electroconductive film having zinc oxide as a main component; a contact layer; a photoelectric conversion unit having a p-type semiconductor layer, an i-type semiconductor layer and an n-type semiconductor layer in this order; and a back electrode layer, in this order, on one main surface of a substrate. The contact layer has an intrinsic crystalline semiconductor layer and a p-type crystalline semiconductor layer in this order from the substrate side, and the intrinsic crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer and the transparent electroconductive film are in contact with each other. The p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer is preferably a layer having as a main component a silicon alloy selected from the group consisting of a silicon oxide; a silicon nitride; and silicon carbide.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A thin-film photoelectric conversion device comprising:
a transparent electroconductive film having zinc oxide as a main component;
a contact layer;
a photoelectric conversion unit having a p-type semiconductor layer, an i-type semiconductor layer and an n-type semiconductor layer in this order; and
a back electrode layer, in this order, on one main surface of a substrate, wherein
the contact layer includes an intrinsic crystalline silicon semiconductor layer and a p-type crystalline semiconductor layer in this order from the substrate side,
the p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer is a layer having as a main component a silicon alloy selected from the group consisting of a silicon oxide; a silicon nitride; silicon carbide; and silicon germanium, and
the intrinsic crystalline silicon semiconductor layer of the contact layer and the transparent electroconductive film are in contact with each other, wherein
the p-type semiconductor layer of the photoelectric conversion unit and the p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer are separate layers.

2. The thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 , wherein the p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer is a layer having a silicon oxide as a main component.

3. The thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 , wherein
the substrate comprises a transparent insulating base and an underlying layer,
the underlying layer is formed on the transparent electroconductive film side of the transparent insulating base,
the underlying layer includes an irregular structure on a surface on the transparent electroconductive film side, and
the irregular structure has a top-bottom distance of 100 to 1000 nm, and a projection peak-to-peak distance of 200 to 2000 nm.

4. The thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 , wherein the intrinsic crystalline silicon semiconductor layer of the contact layer has a thickness of 0.2 to 5 nm.

5. The thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 , wherein the p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer has a thickness of 3 to 15 nm.

6. The thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 , wherein the p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer has a dark conductivity of 10 −8 to 10 −1 S/cm, and a refractive index of 1.7 to 3.0 to light having a wavelength of 600 nm.

7. The thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 , wherein the p-type semiconductor layer of the photoelectric conversion unit is a p-type amorphous silicon carbide layer.

8. The thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 , further comprising, between the photoelectric conversion unit and the back electrode layer, another photoelectric conversion unit.

9. A solar cell module comprising the thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 1 .

10. A method of manufacturing a thin-film photoelectric conversion device comprising:
forming on one main surface of a substrate a transparent electroconductive film having zinc oxide as a main component;
forming an intrinsic crystalline silicon semiconductor layer and a p-type crystalline semiconductor layer in this order on the transparent electroconductive film to form a contact layer;
forming a p-type semiconductor layer, an i-type semiconductor layer and an n-type semiconductor layer in this order on the contact layer to form a photoelectric conversion unit; and
forming a back electrode layer, wherein
the p-type semiconductor layer of the photoelectric conversion unit and the p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer are separate layers,
the intrinsic crystalline silicon semiconductor layer of the contact layer and the transparent electroconductive film are in contact with each other,
the p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer is a layer having as a main component a silicon alloy selected from the group consisting of a silicon oxide; a silicon nitride; silicon carbide; and silicon germanium, and
the intrinsic crystalline silicon semiconductor layer and the p-type crystalline semiconductor layer of the contact layer are formed by a plasma-enhanced CVD method.

11. The method of manufacturing the thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 10 , wherein after formation of the transparent electroconductive film having zinc oxide as a main component, a surface thereof is subjected to an etching treatment in the step of forming the transparent electroconductive film.

12. The method of manufacturing the thin-film photoelectric conversion device according to claim 11 , wherein the etching treatment is plasma etching.

Assignees

• Kaneka Corp

Inventors

• Meguro Tomomi
• Yamamoto Kenji

Classifications

• Y02E10/545

  Microcrystalline silicon PV cells · CPC title

• H01L31/1888

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0747

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/03762

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/03685

  Electricity · mapped topic