A method for forming a photovoltaic device includes forming a photovoltaic absorption stack on a substrate including one or more of I-III-VI.sub.2 and I.sub.2-II-IV-VI.sub.4 semiconductor material. A transparent conductive contact layer is deposited on the photovoltaic absorption stack at a temperature less than 200 degrees Celsius. The transparent conductive contact layer has a thickness of about one micron and is formed on a front light-receiving surface. The surface includes pyramidal structures due to an as deposited thickness. The transparent conductive contact layer is wet etched to further roughen the front light-receiving surface to reduce reflectance.

A method for texturing silicon includes loading a silicon wafer into a vacuum chamber, heating the silicon wafer and thermal cracking a gas to generate cracked sulfur species. The silicon wafer is exposed to the cracked sulfur species for a time duration in accordance with a texture characteristic needed for a surface of the silicon wafer.

A solar cell includes a semiconductor substrate, in which a rear surface of the semiconductor substrate having non-pyramid-shaped microstructures, the non-pyramid-shaped microstructures include two or more first substructures at least partially stacked on one another, and a one-dimensional size of the surface of the outermost first substructure is less than or equal to 45 m; a first passivation layer located on a front surface of the semiconductor substrate; first and second tunnel oxide layers located on the non-pyramid-shaped microstructures; first and second doped conductive layers located on a surface of the first and second tunnel oxide layers, the first and second doped conductive layer has different conductive types; a second passivation layer located on a surface of the first and second doped conductive layers; and electrodes formed by penetrating through the second passivation layer to be in contact with the first and second doped conductive layers.

A solar cell is disclosed. The solar cell includes a crystalline semiconductor substrate containing impurities of a first conductivity type, a front doped layer located on a front surface of the semiconductor substrate, a back doped layer located on a back surface of the semiconductor substrate, a front transparent conductive layer located on the front doped layer and having a first thickness, a front collector electrode located on the front transparent conductive layer, a back transparent conductive layer located under the back doped layer and having a second thickness, and a back collector electrode located under the back transparent conductive layer. The first thickness of the front transparent conductive layer and the second thickness of the back transparent conductive layer are different from each other, and a sheet resistance of the front transparent conductive layer is less than a sheet resistance of the back transparent conductive layer.

A photovoltaic cell is provided that enables cost reduction and stable operation with a simple configuration and enhances conversion efficiency by a new technology of forming an energy level in a band gap. In the photovoltaic cell, a substrate, a conductive first electrode, an electromotive force layer, a p-type semiconductor layer, and a conductive second electrode are laminated, electromotive force is generated by photoexciting the electron in the band gap of the electromotive force layer by light irradiation, the electromotive force layer is filled with an n-type metal oxide semiconductor of fine particles coated by an insulating coat, a new energy level is formed in a band gap by photoexcited structural change caused by ultraviolet irradiation, and efficient and stable operation can be performed by providing a layer of an n-type metal oxide semiconductor between the first electrode and the electromotive force layer.

A thin-film photoelectric converter in which a first electrode layer formed of a transparent conductive material, a photoelectric conversion layer for photoelectric conversion, and a second electrode layer formed of a conductive material that reflects light are stacked in that order on an insulating light-transmitting substrate. The photoelectric conversion layer and the second electrode layer are divided by dividing grooves into islands that form a plurality of photoelectric conversion cells separated from each other, adjacent ones of the plurality of photoelectric conversion cells separated by the dividing grooves being electrically connected in series. The photoelectric conversion layer includes: a first semiconductor layer including a microcrystalline structure; and a second semiconductor layer including an amorphous structure, the second semiconductor layer being disposed so as to surround all side wall portions of the first semiconductor layer that extend in in-plane directions of the insulating light-transmitting substrate.

A solar cell is provided with an electrode layer on a photovoltaic conversion section including a crystalline silicon substrate. Deposition of the electrode layer is performed by a deposit-up method with a substrate being mounted in such a manner that an opening edge portion of a mask plate having an opening is in contact with the substrate. The opening edge portion of the mask plate has a tapered surface at a part that is in contact with first principal surface of the substrate, the tapered surface conforming to a deflection angle at a peripheral end of the substrate. A solar cell having a large effective area can be prepared by suppressing deposition of electrode layer on mask-covered region due to penetration.

Techniques for enhancing the absorption of photons in semiconductors with the use of microstructures are described. The microstructures, such as holes, effectively increase the absorption of the photons. Using microstructures for absorption enhancement for silicon photodiodes and silicon avalanche photodiodes can result in bandwidths in excess of 10 Gb/s at photons with wavelengths of 850 nm, and with quantum efficiencies of approximately 90% or more. Their thickness dimensions allow them to be conveniently integrated on the same Si chip with CMOS, BiCMOS, and other electronics, with resulting packaging benefits and reduced capacitance and thus higher speeds.

A high power solar cell module including a cover plate, a back plate, a first encapsulation, a second encapsulation, a plurality of N type hetero-junction solar cells, and a plurality of reflective connection ribbons is provided. The back plate is opposite to the cover plate. The first encapsulation is located between the cover plate and the back plate. The second encapsulation is located between the first encapsulation and the back plate. The N type hetero-junction solar cells and the reflective connection ribbons are located between the first encapsulation and the second encapsulation, and any two adjacent N type hetero junction solar cells are connected in series along a first direction by at least one of the reflective connection ribbons, wherein each of the reflective connection ribbons has a plurality of triangle columnar structures. Each of the triangle columnar structures points to the cover plate and extends along the first direction.

A solar cell includes: first and second conductivity type diffusion layers which are formed on a backside of a light-receiving surface of a substrate, first and second electrode portions, first and second electrode line portions, and first and a second electrode bus bar portions; a first insulator film which is formed to cover a side portion and a top of the second electrode portion in an intersection region of the second electrode portion and the first electrode bus bar portion, a second insulator film which is formed to cover a side portion and a top of the first electrode portion in an intersection region of the first electrode portion and the second electrode bus bar portion, wherein the second electrode portion is formed continuously in a line shape under the first insulator film, and the first electrode portion is formed continuously in a line shape under the second insulator film.