A dry etching method which includes a dry etching step in which an etching gas containing a halogen fluoride, which is a compound of bromine or iodine and fluorine, is brought into contact with a member to be etched (12) having an etching object, which is an object to be etched by the etching gas, thereby etching the etching object without using plasma. The etching object contains at least one metal selected from among titanium, indium, and tin. Also disclosed is a production method for manufacturing a semiconductor element using the dry etching method as well as a cleaning method for cleaning an inner surface of a chamber of a semiconductor element manufacturing apparatus using the dry etching method.

A method for manufacturing a substrate with a transparent conductive film, includes emitting subnano-to-nanosecond laser light to a transparent conductive film formed on a surface of a substrate to form a laser-induced periodic surface structure having a corrugated shape in at least a part of the transparent conductive film.

A front electrode layer of a thin film solar cell is provided. The front electrode layer includes a first transparent conductive layer and a second transparent conductive layer. The first transparent conductive layer is disposed on a substrate, and the second transparent conductive layer is disposed on the first transparent conductive layer, wherein the first transparent conductive layer is located between the substrate and the second transparent conductive layer, and wherein a surface roughness of the second transparent conductive layer is lower than a surface roughness of the first transparent conductive layer.

Method for manufacturing avalanche photodetector, including forming multiplication layer on wafer; etching closed groove on surface of the multiplication layer, so that depth of the closed groove is greater than or equal to thickness of the multiplication layer, but less than total thickness of the wafer and multiplication layer combined; filling the groove with highly-doped polycrystalline silicon of same conductivity type as multiplication layer; forming, on upper surface of multiplication layer, inside groove, avalanche amplifier as mesa structure, by forming contact layer on multiplication layer, while simultaneously forming photoconverter outside contact layer, and etching away portion of multiplication layer in the photoconverter to depth less than thickness of the multiplication layer; forming dielectric layer on multiplication layer where etching took place, its thickness equal to the depth of multiplication layer that was etched away; forming first electrode of transparent material on surfaces of contact and dielectric layers; forming second electrode.

The embodiment provides a transparent electrode having low resistance and high stability against impurities such as halogen and sulfur, a method of producing the transparent electrode, and an electronic device using the transparent electrode. A transparent electrode according to an embodiment includes a transparent substrate and a plurality of conductive regions disposed on a surface of the transparent substrate and separated from each other by a separation region, wherein the conductive region has a structure in which a first transparent conductive metal oxide layer, a metal layer, and a second transparent conductive metal oxide layer are laminated in this order from the substrate side, and in the separation region, there is disposed a trapping material. This transparent electrode can be produced by scribing the conductive region to form a separation region, and then using a halide or a sulfur compound.

The technique relates to a method for preparing a nanomesh metal membrane 5 transferable on a very wide variety of supports of different types and shapes comprising at least one step of de-alloying 1 a thin layer 6 of a metal alloy deposited on a substrate 7, said method being characterized in that said thin layer 6 has a thickness less than 100 nm, and in that said de-alloying step 1 is carried out by exposing said thin layer 6 to an acid vapor in the gas phase 8, in order to form said nanomesh metal membrane 5.

A solar cell structure (10) comprises a semiconductor material having a first doped region (12) and at least one second doped region (26) of the same polarity as that of the first region (12). The solar cell structure (10) further comprises at least one dielectric layer (20) at the surface of the first region (12), and a conductive portion (18) located over the at least one second region (26) to form an electrical contact with the at least one second region (26). The at least one second region (26) traverses the conductive portion (18) at least three times such that at least three electrical contacts (32) are formed between the at least one second region (26) and the conductive portion (18).

The present disclosure provides a method for treating a surface portion of a TCO material in a semiconductor device that comprises a structure arranged to facilitate current flow in one direction. To perform the method the surface portion of the TCO is exposed to an electrolyte and a current is induced in the device. The current allows reducing the TCO material in a manner such that the adhesion of a metallic material to the exposed surface portion is improved over the adhesion of the metallic material to a non-exposed surface portion.

The present disclosure provides a contact structure and an electronic device having the same. The contact structure includes a substrate, a copper layer, an organic composite protective layer, and a silver nanowire layer. The copper layer is disposed on the substrate. The nanowire-distribution-promotion layer is disposed between the copper layer and the silver nanowire layer.

A photovoltaic device is provided that comprises a photovoltaic active zone being formed of a stack of thin films comprising a first electrode, an absorber film and a metallic electrode. A collection gate is arranged in contact with the first electrode to reduce its electrical resistance and avoid direct physical or electrical contact with the metallic electrode. The photovoltaic active zone includes a plurality of channels, made in the metallic electrode and the absorber film. The collection gate is separated from the metallic electrode and from the absorber film by a dielectric material.