Method for manufacturing an interdigitated back contact solar cell

US9059341B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY · US

Inventors

• Giuseppe Scardera · Sunnyvale, US
• Maxim Kelman · Mountain View, US
• Shannon Dugan · Hutchinson, US
• Dmitry Poplavskyy · San Jose, US
• Daniel A. Inns · Palo Alto, US
• Karim Lotfi Bendimerad · San Francisco, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 23, 2014
• Grant date: Jun 16, 2015
• Expiry date: Jan 24, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P70/50

Abstract

A method for manufacturing an interdigitated back contact solar cell. comprising the steps of: (a) providing a silicon substrate doped with a first dopant; (b) doping the rear surface of the silicon substrate with a second dopant in a first pattern; (c) forming a silicon dioxide layer on the rear surface; (d) depositing a silicon-containing paste comprising silicon-containing particles on the silicon dioxide layer in a second pattern; (e) exposing the substrate to a diffusion ambient, wherein the diffusion ambient comprises a third dopant and wherein the third dopant is a counter dopant to the second dopant; (f) heating the substrate in a drive-in ambient; and (g) removing the silicon dioxide layer and the doped silicate glass layer from the silicon substrate, wherein a region doped with the second dopant and a region doped with the third dopant collectively form an interdigitated pattern on the rear surface of the silicon substrate.