Solar cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-RE47484-E
Application number	US-201715640956-A
Country	US
Kind code	E1
Filing date	Jul 3, 2017
Priority date	Sep 7, 2009
Publication date	Jul 2, 2019
Grant date	Jul 2, 2019

Abstract

A solar cell is discussed. The solar cell includes a substrate of a first conductive type, an emitter region of a second conductive type opposite the first conductive type that is positioned on the substrate, a first field region of the first conductive type that is positioned on the substrate to be separated from the emitter region, a first electrode electrically connected to the emitter region, a second electrode electrically connected to the first field region, and an insulating region positioned on at least one of the emitter region and the first field region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solar cell, comprising:
a crystalline semiconductor substrate of a first conductive type having a flat rear surface; a passivation layer positioned directly on the flat rear surface of the substrate; an emitter region of a second conductive type opposite the first conductive type that is positioned directly on the passivation layer; a first field region of the first conductive type that is positioned directly on the passivation layer to be separated from the emitter region; an insulating region including a first portion directly positioned on the flat rear surface of the substrate and a second portion directly positioned on at least one of the emitter region and the first field region, and the insulating region being formed of a non-conductive material; a first electrode positioned on the emitter region and electrically connected to the emitter region; and a second electrode positioned on the first field region and electrically connected to the first field region, wherein the passivation layer has a thickness of 1 nm to 10 nm and a hole or electron is moved through the passivation layer, the passivation layer is formed of at least one of silicon oxide (SiOx) and silicon nitride (SiNx), and the passivation layer includes a first portion positioned between the substrate and the first field region and a second portion positioned between the substrate and the emitter region, the first portion and the second portion of the passivation layer are spatially separated from each other to expose the flat rear surface of the substrate, the first field region directly contacts the first portion of the passivation layer, the emitter region directly contacts the second portion of the passivation layer, and the first portion of the insulating region directly contacts the flat rear surface of the substrate exposed between the first portion and the second portion of the passivation layer.

2. The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein when the insulating region is directly positioned on the first field region, insulating region is positioned on an edge of the first field region.

3. The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein when the insulating region is directly positioned on the first field region, insulating region has at least one opening exposing a portion of the first field region.

4. The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the emitter region includes a first portion positioned at a first height and a second portion positioned at a second height greater than the first height.

5. The solar cell of claim 4 , wherein when the insulating region is positioned on the emitter region, insulating region is positioned on the first portion of the emitter region.

6. The solar cell of claim 5 , wherein the insulating region has at least one opening exposing a portion of the first portion of the emitter region.

7. The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the passivation layer is positioned on a surface of the substrate, the surface being opposite an incident surface of the substrate on which light is incident.

8. The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the first field region is formed of a non-crystalline semiconductor.

9. A solar cell, comprising:
a crystalline semiconductor substrate of a first conductive type, having a rear surface with a first part and a second part, and being flat; an anti-reflection layer positioned on the front surface of the substrate; a front surface field region of the first conductive type between the substrate and the anti-reflection layer; a passivation layer positioned directly on the first part of the rear surface of the substrate; an emitter region of a second conductive type opposite the first conductive type that is positioned directly on the passivation layer; a back surface field region of the first conductive type that is positioned directly on the passivation layer to be separated from the emitter region; a space region positioned between the emitter region and the back surface field region at a second part of the rear surface of the substrate; an insulating region including a first portion directly positioned in the space region and a second portion directly positioned on at least one of the emitter region and the back surface field region, and the insulating region being formed of a non-conductive material; a first electrode positioned on the emitter region and electrically connected to the emitter region; and a second electrode positioned on the back surface field region and electrically connected to the back surface field region, wherein the passivation layer has a thickness of 1 nm to 10 nm and a hole or electron is moved through the passivation layer, the passivation layer is formed of at least one silicon oxide (SiOx) and silicon nitride (SiNx), and the passivation layer includes a first portion positioned between the first part of the rear surface of the substrate and the back surface field region and a second portion positioned between the first part of the rear surface of the substrate and the emitter, the first portion and the second portion of the passivation layer are spatially separated by the space region, the back surface field region directly contacts the first portion of the passivation layer, and the emitter region directly contacts the second portion of the passivation layer.

10. The solar cell of claim 9, wherein a roughness of the front surface of the substrate is greater than a roughness of the first part of the rear surface and a roughness of the second part of the rear surface.

11. The solar cell of claim 9, wherein when the second portion of the insulating region is directly positioned on the emitter region and on the back surface field region, the second portion is positioned on an edge of the back surface field region, and
wherein when the second portion is positioned on the emitter region, the second portion is positioned on an edge of the emitter region.

12. The solar cell of claim 9, wherein when the second portion of the insulating region is directly positioned on the back surface field region, the insulating region has at least one opening exposing a portion of the back surface field region, and
wherein when the second portion of the insulating region is directly positioned on the emitter region, the insulating region has at least one opening exposing a portion of the emitter region.

13. The solar cell of claim 9, wherein the first electrode or the second electrode has a portion directly contacted with the emitter region or the back surface field region, and another portion positioned on the second portion of the insulating region.

14. The solar cell of claim 9, wherein impurities doped in the front surface field region and impurities doped in the back surface field region are the same type of impurities.

15. The solar cell of claim 9, wherein, in the first electrode or the second electrode, a thickness of a portion directly contacted with the emitter region or the back surface field region is greater than a thickness of another portion positioned on the second portion of the insulating region.

16. The solar cell of claim 9, wherein the first electrode or the second electrode is formed of at least one conductive material selected from the group consisting of nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), tin (Sn), zinc (Zn), indium (In), titanium (Ti), gold (Au), or a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Ji Kwangsun
• Lee Heonmin
• Syn Hojung
• Choi Wonseok
• Choi Junghoon
• Yang Hyunjin

Classifications

• H01L31/022441

  Electricity · mapped topic

• Y02E10/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] energy · CPC title

• H01L31/02167 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0747

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10F77/219

  Arrangements for electrodes of back-contact photovoltaic cells · CPC title