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Photovoltaic apparatus and mass-producing apparatus for mass-producing spherical semiconductor particles

a photovoltaic apparatus and semiconductor technology, applied in the direction of pv power plants, sustainable manufacturing/processing, final product manufacturing, etc., can solve the problems of high cost expenditure of related art photovoltaic apparatus, waste of time, and complex step for manufacturing semiconductor wafers, so as to reduce the recombination rate of the surface layer, high reliability, and high efficiency of photovoltaic apparatus

Inactive Publication Date: 2006-07-27
CLEAN VENTURE 21
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] An object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable, highly efficient photovoltaic apparatus that can be mass-produced easily while the used amount of semiconductor material such as high-purity silicon is decreased, that is, a highly reliable, high-efficiency photovoltaic apparatus that can be manufactured at low costs with smaller amounts of consumption of resources and energy.
[0016] Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus capable of mass-producing spherical semiconductor particles easily by simple manipulations.

Problems solved by technology

The related art photovoltaic apparatus is of cost expenditure because the step for producing a crystal is complex.
Furthermore, the step for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer is not only complex because it includes cutting of a bulk single crystal, slicing, and polishing, but also the step is wasteful because crystal waste produced by the cutting, slicing, polishing etc. amounts to about 50% by volume or more of the original bulk single crystal.
The amorphous silicon photovoltaic apparatus, however, has a drawback that the semiconductor has a number of crystal defects (i.e., gap states) inside the semiconductor due to the amorphous structure, the amorphous silicon solar battery has a problem that the photoelectric conversion efficiency decreases due to a photo-induced deterioration phenomenon.
Even such a treatment, however, cannot entirely eliminate the adverse effects of crystal defects, and for example, the amorphous silicon solar battery still has a weak point that the photoelectric conversion efficiency decreases by 15% to 25%.
It has become apparent that the degree of photo-induced deterioration decreases when the operation temperature of solar cells is high.
Although a module technique in which solar cells are caused to operate in such a condition is now being developed, it does not satisfy all the requirements and further improvements are required.
This makes complex the step of connecting the particles to the sheets of aluminum foil, with the result that a sufficient cost reduction is not achieved.
This related art technique requires much time and labor to manufacture spherical semiconductor particles and hence is inferior in cost reduction aspect.

Method used

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  • Photovoltaic apparatus and mass-producing apparatus for mass-producing spherical semiconductor particles
  • Photovoltaic apparatus and mass-producing apparatus for mass-producing spherical semiconductor particles
  • Photovoltaic apparatus and mass-producing apparatus for mass-producing spherical semiconductor particles

Examples

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Effect test

example 1

[0212] A silicon material of about 1.5 ml was put in a carbon crucible that has an outer diameter 20 mm, an external length 40 mm, and a capacity represented by an inner diameter 10 mm and a length 35 mm and that is accommodated in a ceramic air-tight and heat-insulative container having, at one end, a nozzle of 1 mm in internal diameter and 5 mm in length. Immediately before particle formation, high-frequency induction power of 4.6 kW was applied for about 20 minutes to stabilize particle forming conditions such as temperature. Particle formation was started with application of a nitrogen gas pressure of about 300 Pa, and silicon spheres having an average diameter of about 1 mm were produced. To decrease the degree of reaction between silicon and carbon as well as the degree of carbon burning due to presence of oxygen, a nitrogen gas pressure of about 100 Pa was maintained in a system in which the flow rate is made zero at the start of application of the high-frequency induction po...

example 2

[0213] A silicon material of about 1.5 ml was put in a carbon crucible that has an outer diameter 20 mm, an external length 40 mm, and a capacity represented by an inner diameter 10 mm and a length 30 mm and that is accommodated in a ceramic air-tight and heat-insulative container having, at one end, a nozzle of 1 mm in internal diameter and 10 mm in length. Immediately before particle formation, high-frequency induction power of 4.6 kW was applied for about 15 minutes to stabilize particle forming conditions such as temperature. Particle formation was started with application of a nitrogen gas pressure of about 500 Pa, and silicon spheres having an average diameter of about 1 mm were produced. To decrease the degree of reaction between silicon and carbon as well as the degree of carbon burning due to presence of oxygen, a nitrogen gas pressure of about 100 Pa was maintained in a system in which the flow rate is made zero at the start of application of the high-frequency induction p...

example 3

[0214] A silicon material of about 1.2 ml was put in a carbon crucible that has an outer diameter 20 mm, an external length 40 mm, and a capacity represented by an inner diameter 10 mm and a length 25 mm and that is accommodated in a ceramic air-tight and heat-insulative container having, at one end, a nozzle of 1 mm in internal diameter and 10 mm in length. Immediately before particle formation, high-frequency induction power of 3.6 kW was applied for about 20 minutes to stabilize particle forming conditions such as temperature. Particle formation was started with application of a nitrogen gas pressure of about 300 Pa, and silicon spheres having an average diameter of about 1 mm were produced. To decrease the degree of reaction between silicon and carbon as well as the degree of carbon burning due to presence of oxygen, a nitrogen gas pressure of about 100 Pa was maintained in a system in which the flow rate is made zero at the start of application of the high-frequency induction p...

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Abstract

A photoelectric conversion element is disposed in each of a plurality of recesses of a support. Light reflected by the inside surface of the recess shines on the photoelectric conversion element. The photoelectric conversion element has an approximately spherical shape and has the following structure. The outer surface of a center-side n-type amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer is covered with a p-type amorphous SiC (a-SiC) layer having a wider optical band gap than a-Si does, whereby a pn junction is formed. A first conductor of the support is connected to the p-type a-SiC layer of the photoelectric conversion element at the bottom or its neighborhood of the recess. A second conductor, which is insulated from the first conductor by an insulator, of the support is connected to the n-type a-Si layer of the photoelectric conversion element.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a photovoltaic apparatus and to a mass-producing apparatus for mass-producing spherical semiconductor particles, suitable for manufacture of photovoltaic apparatus and the like. [0003] In the disclosure herein described, the term “pin junction” is to be construed as including a structure that n-, I- and p-type semiconductor layers are formed on an approximately spherical photoelectric conversion element so as to be arranged in this order outward from the inside of the approximately spherical photoelectric conversion element or inward from the outside. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] A typical related art technique provides a photovoltaic apparatus comprising a photoelectric conversion element composed of a crystal silicon semiconductor wafer. The related art photovoltaic apparatus is of cost expenditure because the step for producing a crystal is complex. Furthermore,...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): H01L31/042H01L21/00H01L21/268H01L31/0352H01L31/04H01L31/0745H01L31/18
CPCH01L31/042Y02E10/52H01L31/035281C30B29/06H01L31/02008H01L31/0512H01L31/0745H01L31/1804H01L31/0547H02S40/36C30B11/003C30B11/006C30B30/06Y02E10/547C30B29/66Y02P70/50
Inventor HAMAKAWA, YOSHIHIROMUROZONO, MIKIOTAKAKURA, HIDEYUKIYAMAGUCHI, YUKIOYAMAGATA, JUNYASUDA, HIDENORI
Owner CLEAN VENTURE 21