IP Library Granted Patent US 10,424,685
Granted Patent B2
US 10,424,685 · App. 15/950,477 · Granted Sep 24, 2019

Method for manufacturing solar cell having electrodes including metal seed layer and conductive layer

Inventors: Goohwan Shim (Seoul, KR); Changseo Park (Seoul, KR); Philwon Yoon (Seoul, KR); Yoonsil Jin (Seoul, KR); Jinsung Kim (Seoul, KR); Youngho Choe (Seoul, KR); Jaewon Chang (Seoul, KR)
Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
H01L31/18H01L31/02168H01L31/022425H01L31/068H01L31/0684Y02E10/547
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,424,685
App. No.
15/950,477
Granted
Sep 24, 2019
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for manufacturing a solar cell includes forming an emitter layer on a first surface of a substrate, forming a back surface field layer on a second surface opposite the first surface of the substrate, forming a first anti-reflection layer on the emitter layer, forming a second anti-reflection layer on the back surface field layer, and forming a plurality of first electrodes each including a first metal seed layer and a first conductive layer on a plurality of first contact regions of the first anti-reflection film and a plurality of second electrodes each including a second metal seed layer and a second conductive layer on a plurality of second contact regions of the second anti-reflection film, the plurality of first contact regions being partially formed at the first anti-reflection layer and each having a first width.

Claims (38)

1. A method for manufacturing a solar cell, the method comprising:

forming an emitter layer on a first surface of a substrate;

forming a back surface field layer on a second surface opposite the first surface of the substrate;

forming a first anti-reflection layer on the emitter layer;

forming a second anti-reflection layer on the back surface field layer; and

forming a plurality of first electrodes each including a first metal seed layer and a first conductive layer on a plurality of first contact regions of the first anti-reflection layer and a plurality of second electrodes each including a second metal seed layer and a second conductive layer on a plurality of second contact regions of the second anti-reflection layer, the plurality of first contact regions being formed at the first anti-reflection layer and each having a first width, and the plurality of second contact regions being formed at the second anti-reflection layer and each having a second width larger than the first width,

wherein the forming of the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes includes:

forming the first metal seed layer at the plurality of first contact regions and the second metal seed layer at the plurality of second contact regions by a plating method or a vacuum method, such as a sputtering method or an electron beam evaporation method,

forming a first copper layer having a first thickness on the first metal seed layer and a second copper layer having a second thickness on the second metal seed layer by a plating method, and

forming a first tin layer having a third thickness smaller than the first thickness on the first copper layer and a second tin layer having a fourth thickness on the second copper layer by a plating method, and

wherein the first conductive layer includes the first copper layer and the first tin layer, and the second conductive layer includes the second copper layer and the second tin layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of first contact regions and the plurality of second contact regions includes a plurality of lines.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first anti-reflection layer and the second anti-reflection layer is formed of an oxide layer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of second contact regions has the second width of 40 μm to 100 μm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes has a thickness of 20 μm to 50 μm.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second thickness of the second copper layers is 10 μm to 30 μm.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the plurality of first electrodes include sequentially stacking the first metal seed layer, the first copper layer and the first tin layer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first electrodes extend substantially parallel to one another in a fixed direction.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before the emitter layer and the back surface field layer are formed, texturing a first surface and a second surface of the substrate to form a first textured surface and a second textured surface.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the forming of the plurality of first electrodes further includes forming a first diffusion barrier layer under the first conductive layer, and the forming of the plurality of second electrode further includes forming a second diffusion barrier layer under the second conductive layer.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein a width of each of the plurality of second electrodes is larger than a width of each of the plurality of first electrodes.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first copper layer and the second copper layer are plated at the same time, and the first tin layer and the second tin layer are plated at the same time.

13. A method for manufacturing a solar cell, the method comprising:

forming a doped layer on a first surface of a substrate;

forming an anti-reflection layer formed of an oxide layer on the doped layer; and

forming a plurality of electrodes each including a metal seed layer and a conductive layer on the metal seed layer on a plurality of contact regions of the anti-reflection layer, the plurality of contact regions being formed at the anti-reflection layer,

wherein the forming of the plurality of electrodes includes:

forming the metal seed layer at the plurality of contact regions by a plating method or a vacuum method, such as a sputtering method or an electron beam evaporation method, the metal seed layer having a fifth thickness,

forming a copper layer having a sixth thickness on the metal seed layer by a plating method, and

forming a tin layer having a seventh thickness smaller than the sixth thickness on the copper layer by a plating method, and

wherein the fifth thickness is smaller than each of the sixth and seventh thickness, and the metal seed layer, the copper layer and the tin layer are sequentially stacked.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising, before the doped layer is formed, texturing the first surface of the substrate to form a textured surface.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of contact regions include a plurality of lines.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of contact regions has a width of 40 μm to 100 μm.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein each of the plurality of electrodes has a thickness of 20 μm to 50 μm.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sixth thickness of the copper layer is 10 μm to 30 μm.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the seventh thickness of the tin layer is 5 μm to 15 μm.

20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of electrodes extend substantially parallel to one another in a fixed direction.

Assignments (4)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 19, 2024
From: SHANGRAO XINYUAN YUEDONG TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD.
To: TRINA SOLAR CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 066831/0802 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Dec 19, 2023
From: SHANGRAO JINKO SOLAR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD
To: SHANGRAO XINYUAN YUEDONG TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD
Reel/Frame 066078/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 7, 2022
From: SHIM, GOOHWAN; PARK, CHANGSEO; YOON, PHILWON; JIN, YOONSIL; KIM, JINSUNG; CHOE, YOUNGHO; CHANG, JAEWON
To: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Reel/Frame 061668/0884 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 29, 2022
From: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
To: SHANGRAO JINKO SOLAR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD
Reel/Frame 061572/0487 →
Priority Claims (1)
KR 10-2010-0086464 · Sep 3, 2010 · national
Continuity (4)
Continuation 15004116 · Jan 22, 2016
Continuation 14146561 · Jan 2, 2014
Continuation 13640713
Related Publication 20180233621A1 · Aug 16, 2018