A laminate that can be used for diffusing an impurity diffusion component into a semiconductor substrate and manufactured by a method with good film formability, and which allows sufficient diffusion of the impurity diffusion component; a method for manufacturing the laminate; and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor substrate using the laminate. The laminate includes a diffusion-undergoing semiconductor substrate, an amine compound layer, and an impurity diffusion component layer, the amine compound layer is in contact with one main surface of the diffusion-undergoing semiconductor substrate, the impurity diffusion component layer is in contact with a main surface of the amine compound layer, the main surface is not in contact with the diffusion-undergoing semiconductor substrate, and the amine compound layer includes an amine compound including two or more nitrogen atoms and having an amino group constituted by at least one of the two or more nitrogen atoms; and/or an amine compound residue having one or more amino groups and bonding to the main surface via a covalent bond.

The present disclosure relates to the deposition of dopant films, such as doped silicon oxide films, by atomic layer deposition processes. In some embodiments, a substrate in a reaction space is contacted with pulses of a silicon precursor and a dopant precursor, such that the silicon precursor and dopant precursor adsorb on the substrate surface. Oxygen plasma is used to convert the adsorbed silicon precursor and dopant precursor to doped silicon oxide.

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.

A method may include providing a substrate having a surface that defines a substrate plane and a substrate feature that extends from the substrate plane; directing an ion beam comprising angled ions to the substrate at a non-zero angle with respect to a perpendicular to the substrate plane, wherein a first portion of the substrate feature is exposed to the ion beam and wherein a second portion of the substrate feature is not exposed to the ion beam; directing molecules of a molecular species to the substrate wherein the molecules of the molecular species cover the substrate feature; and providing a second species to react with the molecular species, wherein selective growth of a layer comprising the molecular species and the second species takes place such that a first thickness of the layer grown on the first portion is different from a second thickness grown on the second portion.

Ion implantation compositions, systems and methods are described, for implantation of dopant species. Specific selenium dopant source compositions are described, as well as the use of co-flow gases to achieve advantages in implant system characteristics such as recipe transition, beam stability, source life, beam uniformity, beam current, and cost of ownership.

Aspects of the present disclosure include fabricating integrated circuit (IC) structures using a boron etch-stop layer, and IC structures with a boron-rich region therein. Methods of forming an IC structure according to the present disclosure can include: growing a conductive epitaxial layer on an upper surface of a semiconductor element; forming a boron etch-stop layer directly on an upper surface of the conductive epitaxial layer; forming an insulator on the boron etch-stop layer; forming an opening within the insulator to expose an upper surface of the boron etch-stop layer; annealing the boron etch-stop layer to drive boron into the conductive epitaxial layer, such that the boron etch-stop layer becomes a boron-rich region; and forming a contact to the boron-rich region within the opening, such that the contact is electrically connected to the semiconductor element through at least the conductive epitaxial layer.

Paste compositions, methods of making a paste composition, photovoltaic cells, and methods of making a photovoltaic cell contact are disclosed. The paste composition can include a conductive metal component such as aluminum, phosphate glass, phosphorus compounds such as alky! phosphate, and a vehicle. The contact can be formed on a passivation layer on a silicon wafer by applying the paste on the passivation layer and firing the paste. During firing, the metal component can fire through the passivation layer, thereby electrically contacting the silicon substrate.

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor substrate that, even when a substrate which has, on a surface thereof, a three-dimensional structure having nanometer-scale microvoids on a surface thereof is used, can allow an impurity diffusion ingredient to be uniformly diffused into the substrate at the whole area thereof where the diffusion agent composition is coated, including the whole inner surfaces of the microvoids, while suppressing the occurrence of defects in the substrate. A coating film having a thickness of not more than 30 nm is formed on a surface of a substrate under such conditions that an atmosphere around the substrate has a relative humidity of not more than 40%, using a diffusion agent composition comprising an impurity diffusion ingredient and a Si compound that is hydrolyzable to produce a silanol group.

An object of the present disclosure is to reduce masks and to reduce the variation in the profile of an impurity layer in a semiconductor device. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes a step (b) of forming a base layer on a first main surface side of a drift layer in an active region by implanting p-type impurity ions of using the first mask, a step of (c) of forming an emitter layer on the first main surface side of the base layer by implanting n-type impurity ions using the first mask, a step (d) of forming trenches after the steps (b) and (c), a step (e) of embedding a gate electrode inside the trenches, and a step (g) of converting a part of the emitter layer into a first contact layer by implanting the p-type impurity ions having a high dosage using a second mask.

A diffusion agent composition that, even when a semiconductor substrate which is an object into which an impurity diffusion ingredient is to be diffused has, on a surface thereof, a three-dimensional structure having nano-scale fine voids on a surface thereof, can be evenly coated on the whole area of an inner surface of the fine voids, whereby boron can be diffused into the semiconductor substrate, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor substrate using the composition. The composition includes an impurity diffusion ingredient and a hydrolyzable Si compound to produce a silanol group, the impurity diffusion ingredient containing a complex compound containing boron having a specific structure.