Photovoltaic element and method for manufacturing same

Abstract

A photovoltaic element is provided with: an amorphous semiconductor film of a first conductivity type (an n-type amorphous silicon layer (5)) on a surface of an n-type single crystal silicon substrate (1) serving as a semiconductor substrate, said surface being on the reverse side of the light incident surface; a first conductive semiconductor film (a first indium oxide layer (9)) having a low carrier concentration on the amorphous semiconductor; and a second conductive semiconductor film (a second indium oxide layer (10)) having a high carrier concentration on the first conductive semiconductor film. Insulating fine particles (8) are contained in the first conductive semiconductor film having a low carrier concentration. Consequently, adsorption at the conductive semiconductor films does not occur and no loss is caused even if light is scattered and the optical path length is increased. In addition, a good balance is achieved between suppression of infrared absorption and increase of the optical path length by means of effective scattering, so that a high conversion efficiency can be achieved without causing deterioration in the electrical characteristics even if a thin semiconductor substrate of 100 micrometers or less is used.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a photovoltaic power generation element and a manufacturing method thereof, and particularly to a photovoltaic power generation element such as a solar cell formed using a heterojunction of an amorphous semiconductor and a crystalline semiconductor, and a manufacturing method thereof. Background technique [0002] Conventionally, crystalline solar cells using crystalline semiconductor substrates, particularly crystalline silicon solar cells using crystalline silicon substrates, have high photoelectric conversion efficiency and have been widely used in practical use. Among them, among heterojunction solar cells using an amorphous or microcrystalline semiconductor thin film as a conductive thin film, a solar cell having an intrinsic semiconductor thin film between the conductive thin film and a crystalline substrate has been developed. With regard to this solar cell, the intrinsic semiconductor film between the crystal su...

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Problems solved by technology

[0011] However, if this method is applied to a crystalline solar cell, the power generation layer is a crystalline substrate, and if insulating fine particles are dispersed inside, the number of defects inside the crystal increases and the characteristics deteriorate significantly.

In addition, even if it is arranged at the interface of a certain layer of a crystalline silicon solar cell with a conventional structure, the particles themselves have insulating properties, and it is difficult to ensure both electrical and optical properties.

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