A ribbon is formed such that the ribbon floats on a melt using a cold initializer facing an exposed surface of the melt. The ribbon is single crystal silicon. The ribbon is pulled from the silicon melt at a low angle off the melt surface. The ribbon is formed at a same rate as the pulling. The ribbon is separated from the melt at a wall of the crucible where a stable meniscus forms. The ribbon has a thickness between a first surface and an opposite second surface from 50 μm to 5 mm. The ribbon includes a first region extending a first depth from the first surface. The first region has a reduced oxygen concentration relative to a bulk of the ribbon.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of structured, highly efficient solar cells and of photovoltaic elements which have regions of different doping. The invention likewise relates to the solar cells having increased efficiency produced in this way.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of structured, highly efficient solar cells and of photovoltaic elements which have regions of different doping. The invention likewise relates to the solar cells having increased efficiency produced in this way.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of structured, highly efficient solar cells and of photovoltaic elements which have regions of different doping. The invention likewise relates to the solar cells having increased efficiency produced in this way.

The present invention relates to a process for the production of structured, highly efficient solar cells and of photovoltaic elements which have regions of different doping. The invention likewise relates to the solar cells having increased efficiency produced in this way.

The present invention relates to a method for producing highly doped polycrystalline semiconductor layers on a semiconductor substrate, wherein a first Si precursor composition comprising at least one first dopant is applied to one or more regions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate; optionally a second Si precursor composition comprising at least one second dopant is applied to one or more other regions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate, where the first dopant is an n-type dopant and the second dopant is a p-type dopant or vice versa; and the coated regions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate are each converted, so as to form polycrystalline silicon from the Si precursor. The invention further relates to the semiconductor obtainable by the method and to the use thereof, especially in the production of solar cells.

The present invention relates to a method for producing highly doped polycrystalline semiconductor layers on a semiconductor substrate, wherein a first Si precursor composition comprising at least one first dopant is applied to one or more regions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate; optionally a second Si precursor composition comprising at least one second dopant is applied to one or more other regions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate, where the first dopant is an n-type dopant and the second dopant is a p-type dopant or vice versa; and the coated regions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate are each converted, so as to form polycrystalline silicon from the Si precursor. The invention further relates to the semiconductor obtainable by the method and to the use thereof, especially in the production of solar cells.

In one aspect, a method of processing a semiconductor substrate is disclosed, which comprises incorporating at least one dopant in a semiconductor substrate so as to generate a doped polyphase surface layer on a light-trapping surface, and optically annealing the surface layer via exposure to a plurality of laser pulses having a pulsewidth in a range of about 1 nanosecond to about 50 nanoseconds so as to enhance crystallinity of said doped surface layer while maintaining high above-bandgap, and in many embodiments sub-bandgap optical absorptance.

In one aspect, a method of processing a semiconductor substrate is disclosed, which comprises incorporating at least one dopant in a semiconductor substrate so as to generate a doped polyphase surface layer on a light-trapping surface, and optically annealing the surface layer via exposure to a plurality of laser pulses having a pulsewidth in a range of about 1 nanosecond to about 50 nanoseconds so as to enhance crystallinity of said doped surface layer while maintaining high above-bandgap, and in many embodiments sub-bandgap optical absorptance.

The present invention is a method for manufacturing an FZ silicon single crystal for a solar cell, including the steps of: pulling a CZ silicon single crystal doped with gallium by a Czochralski method; and float-zone processing a raw material rod, with the raw material rod being the CZ silicon single crystal, at 1.6 atmospheric pressure or more to manufacture the FZ silicon single crystal. As a result, it is possible to provide a method for manufacturing an FZ silicon single crystal for a solar cell that can decrease the amount of gallium dopant evaporated during the float-zone processing, thereby preventing the silicon single crystal from increasing the resistance while decreasing oxygen, which is inevitably introduced into a CZ crystal, and preventing formation of a B-O pair, which causes a problem to the characteristics of a solar cell.