The invention relates to an electroconductive paste composition comprising conductive metallic particles comprising silver, at least one glass frit, and an organic vehicle comprising at least about 0.5 wt % and no more than about 50 wt % of at least one poly-siloxane compound, based upon 100% total weight of the organic vehicle.

A photovoltaic device includes a substrate, a back contact comprising a stable low-work function material, a photovoltaic absorber material layer comprising Ag.sub.2ZnSn(S,Se).sub.4 (AZTSSe) on a side of the back contact opposite the substrate, wherein the back contact forms an Ohmic contact with the photovoltaic absorber material layer, a buffer layer or Schottky contact layer on a side of the absorber layer opposite the back contact, and a top electrode on a side of the buffer layer opposite the absorber layer.

A method for fabricating a Zinc Oxide (ZnO) conductive film on a semiconductor material, including depositing a doped ZnO seed layer on a diode, wherein the ZnO seed layer forms an electrical contact to the diode; and depositing a ZnO layer on the ZnO seed layer, wherein the ZnO seed layer and the ZnO layer each have a thickness, a crystal quality, and a doping level such that (1) the diode comprising III-nitride material is turned on with a turn on voltage of 2.75 volts or less applied across the ZnO layers and the diode, and (2) a contact resistance, of a structure comprising the ZnO layers and the diode, is lower as compared to a contact resistance of a structure comprising the ZnO layer directly on the diode without the ZnO seed layer.

The invention relates to the photo-voltalic cell structure comprising semiconductor type-p substrate with bottom electric contact upon which the active ZnO film is present, with the transparent conductive layer upon it, preferably ZnO:Al film, with an electric contact, characterized in that the active ZnO layer consists of ZnO nanostructures film at least 50 nm thick, deposited on nucleating layer and covered with ZnO film at least 1 nm thick, and the method to produce the photovoltaic structure.

Briefly, an embodiment comprises fabricating and/or uses of one or more zinc oxide crystals to form a transparent conductive structure.

The present invention relates to a solar cell (10) comprising a substrate (100) made of a transparent material and intended to be exposed to light radiation, a first electrode (110) formed on the substrate (100), and a unit solar cell (130) arranged between this first electrode (110) and a second electrode (120), the first and second electrodes (110, 120) being made of an electrically conductive and transparent material, the unit solar cell (130) being adapted to absorb light radiation and to generate an electric current therefrom at the terminals of said first and second electrodes (110, 120), the second electrode (120) and the unit solar cell (130) being perforated so as to allow light radiation to pass through said solar cell (10).

An optical electrical device comprises a base and a transparent conductive structure on the base is disclosed. The base further comprises a light-emitting device and the transparent conductive structure comprises a transparent conductive oxide layer and a passivation layer on the transparent conductive oxide layer. The material of the transparent conductive oxide layer comprises transparent conductive metal oxide, such as ZnO. Furthermore, the transparent conductive metal oxide also comprises impurities, such as a carrier e.g. gallium.

A solar cell element includes: a transparent body; a Mg.sub.xAg.sub.1-x layer (0.001x0.045) having a thickness (2-13 nm); a ZnO layer having an arithmetical mean (Ra: 20-870 nm); and a transparent conductive layer. A photoelectric conversion layer including n-type and p-type layers further includes n-side and p-side electrodes. The ZnO layer is composed of ZnO columnar crystal grains grown on the Mg.sub.xAg.sub.1-x layer, and each ZnO grain has a longitudinal direction along a normal line of the body, has a width increasing from the Mg.sub.xAg.sub.1-x layer toward the transparent conductive layer, has a width which appears by cutting each ZnO grain along the normal line, and has a R2/R1 ratio (1.1-1.8). R1 represents the width of one end of the ZnO grain, and the one end is in contact with the surface of the Mg.sub.xAg.sub.1-x layer, and R2 represents the width of the other end of the ZnO grain.

The present invention relates to a method for film-forming a buffer layer to be used for a solar cell, the buffer layer being disposed between a light absorbing layer and a transparent conductive film. Specifically, in this buffer layer film-forming method, a solution (4) is formed into a mist, the solution containing zinc and aluminum as metal raw materials of the buffer layer. Then, a substrate (2) disposed in the atmosphere is heated. Then, the mist of the solution is sprayed to the substrate being heated.

Disclosed are a solar cell and a method of fabricating the same. The solar cell includes a molybdenum layer on a support substrate; an ohmic layer on the molybdenum layer; a light absorbing layer on the ohmic layer; and a front electrode layer on the light absorbing layer, wherein the ohmic layer comprises a first ohmic layer and a second ohmic layer having crystal structures different from each other.