A photovoltaic (PV) apparatus includes a substrate having a first substrate surface and a second substrate surface. A cavity fabricated in the substrate extends from the first substrate surface toward the second substrate surface. The cavity defines a first end to receive incident light, a second end opposite the first end, and a side surface, which extends from the first end to the second end to concentrate the incident light, received by the first end, toward the second end. The PV apparatus also includes a photovoltaic (PV) cell, in optical communication with the second end of the at least one cavity, to convert the incident light into electricity.

A method for forming reliefs on the surface of a substrate, including a first implantation of ions in the substrate according to a first direction; a second implantation of ions in the substrate according to a second direction that is different from the first direction; at least one of the first and second implantations is carried out through at least one mask having at least one pattern; an etching of areas of the substrate having received by implantation a dose greater than or equal to a threshold, selectively to the areas of the substrate that have not received via implantation a dose greater than said threshold; the parameters of the first and second implantations being adjusted in such a way that only areas of the substrate that have been implanted both during the first implantation and during the second implantation receive a dose greater than or equal to said threshold.

A solar cell and a photovoltaic module are disclosed, including: a substrate; a tunneling dielectric layer and a doped conductive layer disposed on the substrate, the tunneling dielectric layer being disposed between the doped conductive layer and a surface of the substrate, the doped conductive layer having a N-type or P-type doping element and having a plurality of first heavily doped regions spaced apart from each other and extending in a first direction, a doping concentration in the first heavily doped regions being greater than that in other regions of the doped conductive layer; a passivation layer disposed on a surface of the doped conductive layer facing away from the substrate; and a plurality of electrodes spaced apart from each other, extending in a second direction and penetrating the passivation layer to contact the doped conductive layer, at least two first heavily doped regions contacting a same electrode.

The present invention provides a boron diffusion layer forming method capable of sufficiently oxidizing a boron silicide layer formed on a silicon substrate to remove it and obtaining a high-quality boron silicate glass layer. The present invention is a boron diffusion layer forming method of forming a boron diffusion layer on a silicon substrate by a boron diffusion process, the process including a first step of thermally diffusing boron on the silicon substrate and a second step of oxidizing a boron silicide layer formed on the silicon substrate at the first step, wherein the second step has a state at a temperature of 900° C. or higher and a treatment temperature at the first step or lower, for 15 minutes or more.

There is provided a capacitive coupled electodeless plasma apparatus for processing a silicon substrate. The apparatus includes at least one inductive antenna driven by time-varying power sources for providing at least one electrostatic field; and a chamber for locating the silicon substrate. There is also provided a method for processing a silicon substrate using capacitively coupled electrodeless plasma.

A method of processing a silicon substrate can include etching the silicon substrate with a first etchant having a first concentration and etching with a second etchant having a second concentration. In an embodiment, the second concentration of the second etchant can be greater than the first concentration of the first etchant. In one embodiment, the first etchant can be a different type of etchant than the second etchant. In an embodiment, the first and second etchant can be the same type of etchant. In some embodiments the silicon substrate can be cleaned with a first cleaning solution to remove contaminants from the silicon substrate prior to etching with the first etchant. In an embodiment, the silicon substrate can be cleaned with a second cleaning solution after etching the silicon substrate with a second etchant.

Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions with differentiated P-type and N-type architectures and incorporating dotted diffusion, and resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a solar cell includes a substrate having a light-receiving surface and a back surface. A first polycrystalline silicon emitter region of a first conductivity type is disposed on a first thin dielectric layer disposed on the back surface of the substrate. A second polycrystalline silicon emitter region of a second, different, conductivity type is disposed on a second thin dielectric layer disposed in a plurality of non-continuous trenches in the back surface of the substrate.

The present disclosure provides a solar cell and a method for producing same. The solar cell includes: a substrate; a first passivation film, an anti-reflection layer and at least one first electrode formed on a front surface of the substrate; and a tunneling layer, a field passivation layer and at least one second electrode formed on a rear surface. The field passivation layer includes a first field passivation sub-layer and a second field passivation sub-layer; a conductivity of the first field passivation sub-layer is greater than a conductivity of the second field passivation sub-layer, and a thickness of the second field passivation sub-layer is smaller than a thickness of the first field passivation sub-layer; either the at least one first electrode or the at least one second electrode includes a silver electrode, a conductive adhesive and an electrode film that are sequentially formed in a direction away from the substrate.

A photodiode includes a semiconductor substrate, a crystalline layer on the semiconductor substrate, an insulating pattern layer on the crystalline layer to define a plurality of holes exposing a top surface of the crystalline layer, a seed layer in the plurality of holes and directly on the crystalline layer, and a light absorption layer on the seed layer and the insulating pattern layer.

An interdigitated solar cell may provide a heterojunction or tunnel junction emitter and base contacts that comprise laser processed regions that electrically couple the base contact to a substrate. Methods for manufacturing such solar cells to provide interdigitated back contacts may utilize laser processing to form laser processed regions that are isolated from the emitter. Laser processing may include laser-doping, laser-firing, laser-transfer, laser-transfer doping, laser contacting, and/or gas immersion laser doping.