JPS6059784A - Manufacture of photoelectric conversion semiconductor device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to reliably connect external lead electrode which is particularly liable to be deteriorated in the reliability by employing a laser scribing (LS) type. CONSTITUTION:After a light transmissive conductive film (CTF) is formed on an electrode region 5, scribing line grooves 13, 13' are formed by a YAG laser machine from the lower or upper side of this substrate, the portion between element regions and external lead electrode region are divided to form the first electrode 37. The external lead electrode region 5, the first element region 31 and the second element region 11 are formed. A non-signal crystal semiconductor 3 is formed over the entire surface of a CTF2 and the grooves 13, 13' in a uniform thickness, and the second groove 18 is formed at the left side of the first groove 13 is the second LS step. Thus, the groove 18 is exposed at the sides 8, 9 of the first electrode. The second electrode 4 is formed, the third groove 20 for cutting and isolating is formed by the third LS method, and a plurality of elements 31, 11 are connected in series at the connecting portion 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements (also simply referred to as elements) provided on a substrate having an insulating surface, which includes a non-single crystal semiconductor including an amorphous semiconductor that generates a photovoltaic force i upon irradiation with light. The present invention relates to the structure of an external lead electrode in a photoelectric conversion device that can be electrically connected in series to generate a high voltage.

The present invention is characterized by using a laser scribing (hereinafter referred to as LS) method in order to reduce the area required for connecting multiple elements to 1/10 to 1/100 of the conventional mask joining-U method. do.

This invention shows a structure for manufacturing an external extraction electrode part without using any mask using the LS method.

In the present invention, the external extraction electrode is manufactured in exactly the same process as that of the photoelectric conversion element, that is, without using any extra process.

Furthermore, in the present invention, in the two external lead-out electrode parts, the pressurizing pressure of the external connecting body for connection to the electrode part is too strong, penetrating the semiconductor below it, The structure of this electrode portion is characterized in that it does not cause any practical problems even if it comes into contact with the first conductive +A material.

This invention provides electrical coupling at the connecting portion to the first element of the first element.
The second electrode of the second element is extended and brought into close contact with the side surface of a transparent conductive film (CTF) constituting the electrode, forming a site contact structure. For this reason, the groove that separates the semiconductors of the first and second elements is provided over the first electrode position of the first element, so that even if this groove fluctuates during manufacturing, it will not cause a short circuit with an adjacent element. It is characterized by providing redundancy (margin) so that there is no problem.

This invention provides a conductor butt made of the same material extending from the second electrode of the element (first element) located next to it in the first external extraction electrode part, and a conductor butt that is located in the electrode part below this. The semiconductor and the first conductive film thereunder are electrically separated from the first electrode of the first element by an open groove. Due to this open groove, the pressure of the external connection body is strongly applied to the second conductive film, and even if this and the first conductive film below it short, the characteristics of the first element will not deteriorate or be damaged. It has the characteristic that there is no

Further, in the second external extraction electrode section of the present invention, the second
The conductive film bat is electrically connected to the first electrode of the photoelectric conversion element to be fabricated next to it on its side surface, and is electrically separated from the second electrode of the adjacent element by an open groove. By providing this, the second external lead electrode portion is made of the same conductive material as the second conductive film of the element.

By doing this, the pressurizing pressure for connection with the external connector in the second electrode part is strong (0.5 μm below it).
It has the advantage that even if the band is short-circuited with the first conductive film, there is no problem in practical use.

Specifically, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a photoelectric conversion device using a maskless LS method, which makes it possible to more reliably connect an external extraction electrode portion, which is particularly susceptible to deterioration in reliability.

In this invention, by using the LS method, the address to be scribed using the alignment mark as a reference is stored in advance in the memory of a computer (microcomputer), thereby eliminating the need for the conventional mask alignment method. It is characterized by eliminating at once all causes of increase in manufacturing yield such as mask deviation, warping, and decrease in manufacturing yield due to alignment accuracy.

Conventionally, many examples of photoelectric conversion devices (hereinafter simply referred to as "devices"), that is, devices in which a plurality of elements are arranged on the same substrate and integrated or hybridized, are known.

For example, JP-A-55J4994, JP-A-55-12427
4 Furthermore, patent application No. 54-90097 filed by the present inventor
/9009B/90099 (Showa 54.7.16
')It has been known.

For example, the patent application filed by the present inventor describes the semiconductor 5ix
This is a CI-xSi heterojunction, which is different from the case where other amorphous silicon semiconductors are used.Furthermore, this semiconductor is a PN or a PN to which hydrogen or a norogen element containing a microcrystalline structure is added in addition to the amorphous structure. A non-single crystal semiconductor having at least one PIN junction is integrated or made high solid.

The present invention achieves such an integrated structure without using a mask, but during this integration, the pad portion (external lead-out electrode portion) which tends to require extra steps! In A construction,
This is accomplished in the same process as the integration process.

Therefore, in the photoelectric conversion device of the present invention, particularly in the thin film band photoelectric conversion device, each of the thin film layers, the conductive layer for electrodes and the semiconductor layer, each has a thickness of 500 to 1 μm and an F#.
It is a film, and by using the LS method, it has become possible to manufacture it without requiring any mask alignment.

In this LS method, 10 to 100μ, for example 50μ
It is possible to separate the two regions by a linear groove. However, in this LS method, it is extremely difficult to selectively remove surfaces11, which increases the manufacturing cost. Further, in the LS method, it is preferable to have straight lines or points because it increases productivity, but if a curved line is scanned in a complicated manner, the scanning speed becomes slow and the cost increases. Therefore, when manufacturing a band and an integrated structure in the LS method, it is extremely important to achieve industrial productivity by using straight and linear open grooves. The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a peripheral portion, that is, a bunt portion and a side end portion of a photoelectric conversion device, by sufficiently using the Ushijima length.

In the present invention, this scribing process is extremely simple and highly accurate due to the combined use of a microcomputer, resulting in a reduction in the manufacturing cost of the device. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a photoelectric conversion device at a price of 500 yen/W, and by expanding the manufacturing scale, it becomes possible to produce a photoelectric conversion device at a price of 100 to 200 yen/W.

Furthermore, in the present invention, in addition to using this laser scribing process, it is important to provide a certain degree of margin for alignment accuracy of the scribe lines. Therefore, the first electrode (lower (F,'l)) between adjacent elements and the second electrode (upper electrode) of another element are connected to the first electrode by a lead extending from the second electrode. By electrically connecting them on the side, it was possible to provide redundancy in the positions of the open grooves of the scribe lines.

Figure 1 shows a panel (50) of a photoelectric conversion device using the present invention.
is shown from the top. I! 11. In the drawing, the photoelectric conversion element (31), <11) is the connecting part (12)
They are integrated by connecting them in series. The external lead electrodes (5) and (45) are provided at both ends.

Separation grooves (62) are provided at the upper and lower ends of the panel to prevent electrical short-circuiting with the frame.

In the 111th panel, its size is 20cm x
60cm, 40cmX120cm, 40cmX60c
An arbitrary size such as m can be obtained by design.

FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line (AA') in FIG. 1. Also, the longitudinal...i-plane view of (B--B') is shown in Figure 3 (
A) and (CC') longitudinal cross-sectional views are shown in FIG. 3(B). Furthermore, a vertical cross-sectional view along line (D-D') is shown in FIG. 4(B), and (E') is shown in enlarged view in FIG. 4(A). The numbers correspond to each other.

FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section taken along line AA' in FIG. That is, it is a longitudinal sectional view showing the manufacturing process of the present invention.

In the drawings, a substrate with an insulating surface, such as a transparent substrate (
1) In other words, a glass plate (for example, 1.2 mm thick, 60 cm in length in the horizontal direction in the drawing, 20 cm in length) is used.Furthermore, a light-transmitting light guide is provided over the entire upper surface of this plate. h membrane (
If you line up, ITO (151,500 people) + SnO (200~
400 people) or a transparent conductive film whose main component is soot oxide added with a halogen element (1500-2000 people)
was formed by a vacuum evaporation method, an LP CVD method, a plasma CVD method, or a spray method. Although this first conductive pattern is not necessary in the external lead electrode section, an increase in manufacturing cost due to the use of a mask was avoided. Thus the electrode area (5)
CTF is also formed on top. After this, from the bottom or top of this board, use a YAG laser processing machine (manufactured by Nippon Laser).
Add 0.5~3W output and spot diameter 30~70
Typically, 50 μΦ was irradiated under the control of a microcomputer, and by its scanning, grooves (13) and (i3′) for scribe lines were formed to divide each element region and external extraction electrode region. and the first electrode (3
7) was produced.

Open groove (13) formed by this first LS, <13
') was approximately 50 μm in width and 20 cm in length, and the depth was such that each of the first electrodes was completely cut and separated. This length was made to pass through the substrate from the upper end to the lower end in FIG. 1, and the scanning speed for forming the open groove was increased to 5 m/min.

In this way, the external extraction electrode region (5), the first element region (
31) and the second element region (1]) were constructed. The length of these elements 111 was 10 to 20 mm.

After this, plasma CVD method or LP CV is applied to the two surfaces.
D method, optical CVD method, optical plasma CVD method, LT CVD
A non-single crystal semiconductor, especially PN or P, which generates photovoltaic force by light irradiation by
The non-single crystal semiconductor M(3) having an IN junction is 0.2 to 1
．． The thickness is typically 0.4 to 0.6 μm.

-A typical example is a P-type semiconductor (SixC1->< x =
0.850 to 150 > (42) -- Type 1 amorphous or semi-amorphous silicon semiconductor (0.4 to 0
．． 6μ Bar43) - N-type microcrystals (100-200 people)
Also, 5ixC1-)<(0<X<1 For example, X=0.
A non-single crystal semiconductor (3) having one PIN junction made of the semiconductor (44) of 9) was used. Furthermore, as this semiconductor, a P-type semiconductor (SixC+-x), an l-type St semiconductor-N
type Si semiconductor - P type Si semiconductor - I type 5ix (ze'l
-x semiconductor - two PIN junctions made of N-type semiconductor and 1
Tandem type PINPIN with two PN junctions...
It may also be a PIN junction semiconductor (3).

Such a non-single crystal semiconductor (3) was formed to a uniform thickness over the entire surface of the CTF (2) and the open grooves (13>, <13'>. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2(B),
A second open groove (18) is placed on the left side of the first open groove (13).
It was formed by the second LSI process over a distance (17) of 100 to 500 μ over a width of μ. The laser may be applied either from below the glass (1) or from above the substrate.

(Then, the second groove (18) is located on the side surface (8>) of the first electrode.
, (9) were exposed. The presence of the right side surface (9) of the first electrode formed by the second open groove causes the first electrode position of the first element to be on the left side of the side surface (16) of the first electrode (37). It is characterized by being placed over the top. Then, as shown in FIG. 2(B), the first electrode (
31), the side surfaces of the first electrode are exposed as (8), 3, and (9). By doing so, a part of the first electrode (37) of the first element becomes
It remains on the right side of the opening/+'5. If there is no such remaining area, the high heat (~2000°C) of the laser beam will cause CT
Since it is much easier to process than F(2), the semiconductor filled in the first groove (13) will be blown away. Therefore, isolation between the first electrodes of the first and second elements becomes impossible. From now on, Figure 2 (B
), it is very important that the second groove is provided inside the first electrode. This (9
) The remaining CTF was in the range of 50 to 500μ. This laser beam is 1~5W and is a little strong
All of the depth of TF (37) was removed,
As a result, a second electrode (38
) in close contact with each other, there is no practical problem. That is, it is extremely important for the industrial application of the present invention to be able to provide a margin for the intensity of the output pulse of the laser beam.

In FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 2(C), a second electrode (4) on the back surface is roughly formed on this top surface, and a third opening for cutting and separation is formed using the third LS method. a(20)
has been established.

This second electrode (4) has a translucent conductive I9 of 700 to 14
It is made of ITO (indium tin oxide) to a thickness of 300 to 3,000 people, and a reflective metal such as silver, aluminum, or chromium is formed on the top surface to a thickness of 300 to 3,000 people. Furthermore, a two-layer film of aluminum, copper, or aluminum and nickel was formed on the upper surface. For example, J
It has a three-layer structure of 1050 TO, 500 chromium, 1000 copper, and 1500 nickel. The ITO and chromium are used to promote reflection of incident light (10) on the back surface side and to effectively photoelectrically convert long wavelength light of 600 to 800 μm. Furthermore, nickel is applied to the band (49) and the external connection body (23) in the external extraction electrode part (5).
) to improve adhesion with These were formed using an electron beam evaporation method or a plasma CVD method at a temperature of 300° C. or lower, which degrades the semiconductor N(3).

This ITO also serves to prevent a decrease in reliability due to a chemical reaction between the semiconductor (3) and the back electrode (4), that is, to improve reliability.

The back electrode is irradiated with a laser beam from above to cut the second electrode and form a third groove (20) (+1J).
50/J) is shown. This laser beam excites the semiconductor, especially the N- or P-type semiconductor layer that is in close contact with the top surface of the semiconductor (40). This prevents crosstalk (leakage current) from occurring due to conductive semiconductors.

In particular, this semiconductor (3) has a P-type semiconductor layer (42>), an R-type semiconductor layer (43), an N-type semiconductor layer (44), and, for example, 1
When the N-type semiconductor layer has a microcrystalline or polycrystalline structure, its electrical conductivity is 1 to 20.
It has a high value of 0Ωcm)-'. For this reason, it is extremely important to scoop out and remove the N-type conductive semiconductor layer and provide an intrinsic semiconductor in the recessed portion to prevent leakage current from occurring. Furthermore, by oxidizing the bottom part (40) of this ■-type semiconductor to silicon oxide, the degree of this leakage could be reduced to a large extent. It is preferable that this gouging does not go beyond the I-type semiconductor layer and do not reach the CTF for the first electrode. Grooves are formed using laser light only on the second electrode (
, It is industrially important to provide an allowance for the thickness of the ■-type semiconductor layer, which is 0.2 μ or more below it, in the process of forming the open groove portion (20).

Thus, as shown in FIG. 2(C), a plurality of elements (
31) and (11) were connected in series at the connecting part (12).

At the same time, the external extraction electrode (5) could be manufactured without adding any extra steps, and low-cost manufacturing using LS as a photoelectric conversion device became possible.

FIG. 2(D) shows the attempt to further complete the present invention as a photoelectric conversion device, that is, a silicon nitride film (21) with a thickness of 500 to
It was formed to a thickness of 5,000 mm to prevent leakage current between each element. Furthermore, an external lead-out terminal (23) was provided at the peripheral portion (5). These were filled with an organic resin (22) such as polyimide, polyamide, carboxylic acid, or epoxy.

Thus, for the irradiation light (10), each element on the substrate (60 cm x 20 cm) as in this example was set at r10.
4.35 mm, the connecting part l'l] 150 μ, the inside of the external extraction electrode part 10 mm, and the peripheral part 4 mm, the effective area (
192mm x 14.35mm x 40 stages 110
2cn! That is, 91.8%) was able to be obtained. As a result, if the segment has a conversion efficiency of 10.6%,
9.7% (AMI (100mW/cnl) at panel
)) was able to provide an output power of 11.6H.

Furthermore, since no metal mask is used at all, there is no industrial problem in the manufacturing process of large-area panels, making it extremely suitable for large-area (B) low-cost mass production for generating large amounts of power.

Furthermore, regarding the connection part, by connecting the first electrode with the second electrode of the adjacent element on the side surface, the area required for this connection part (contact part) can be reduced to 1/1 compared to the conventional method.
It was sufficiently small (it was possible to make it less than 0).

As a result, the effective area of the panel could be improved.

As mentioned above, the output of the YAG laser 1 layer is 0.3 ~
5W (30μ) and 0.5 to 8W (50μ), but by further reducing the spot diameter based on the technical concept, this connection part can be made smaller and the effective area as a photoelectric conversion device can be reduced. It has an inventive step in that it can be further improved.

FIG. 3 shows the external extraction electrode (5), <45) of the present invention in a longitudinal sectional view corresponding to FIG. 1 (BB'), <c--c'>.

FIG. 3(A) shows the structure of the first external extraction electrode part,
The manufacturing process corresponds to that shown in FIG.

In the drawing, the external lead electrode part (5) is connected to the external connection body (
has a band (49) in contact with the band (47);
49) is connected to the second electrode (upper electrode) (4) of the adjacent element. At this time, the pressure of the external connection body (47) is too strong and the pad (49) is connected to the first electrode below it. An open groove (13'
), and electrically connects the first band (49) of the electrode part (5).
) and the first electrode (2) of the element located next to it are spaced apart. The outer part is the edge of the substrate (1), and both conductors and semiconductors have J fragments i due to the side surface (20').
It has been done.

Furthermore, FIG. 3(B) shows the structure of the second external extraction electrode section. This second electrode portion forms the first electrode (2) on the lower side of the adjacent photoelectric conversion element, and furthermore, a semiconductor (3) is formed on the upper surface of the photoelectric conversion element.

Furthermore, after this, the opening groove (
18'. By forming these open grooves (1B'), the side surface (55) of the first electrode (2) was exposed.

Furthermore, a second conductive film (4) is formed, and at the same time a band (4) is formed.
8), a side contact l-(55) was constructed. Thus, a pad (48) is placed on the side surface (55) of the first electrode of the element.
are connected to each other by the second conductive abrasive material (181).Furthermore, the base (48) is connected to the external connection body (181).
46).

Here, too, the pad (48) is electrically isolated from other photoelectric conversion elements by the open groove (20') and the end (20'), and the mating mask is not used in one panel. It has the characteristic that photoelectric conversion devices can be made in this way.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of (D-D') and (E) in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 4(A), two elements (31) and (11)
and a connecting part (12). Also at the side end (61), as shown in FIG. 4(B), the CTF (59
), the conductor (69) such as the second conductive film (58) remains. Therefore, even if these conductors remain, the element (
In order to prevent the characteristics of 31) and <11) from deteriorating,
Furthermore, even if this conductor (69) remains, it has a structure that allows it to be fixed to the outer frame (60) at this portion. That is, the first conductive film (2) is formed along the side edge of the substrate.
forms a fourth open groove (56). Furthermore, this fourth
A semiconductor (3) and a second conductive film (4) are formed to cover the trench. Thereafter, a fifth open groove (57) is provided across the end side of the fourth open groove (56), and this open groove allows the conductor (2
), <4. ), the semiconductor (3) is cut by LS. That is, the conductor (61), the semiconductor, and the second conductor (4) are all cut into the same shape by this fifth groove.

Then, the second conductive film (4) is separated by this separation groove (62).
Even if the first conductive film (61) or the sheet 3 is connected, the fourth opening a (56) can prevent short circuit between the electrode (2) and <4>. Also, due to the carbon fiber frame (60),
Even if the conductor (69) is pressurized and shorted, the element (31)
, <11), there is no characteristic deterioration of any kind. That is, the side edges are 2
1ilIt groove (6) with two open grooves (56), <57)
2) has made it possible for the first time to stably fix the device to the outer frame, etc. without causing any deterioration of the element, and to make it possible to create a highly reliable device even if the frame and photoelectric conversion device are hardened with resin (63). . Of course, it goes without saying that the conductor (69) does not need to exist partially.

Furthermore, it is possible to package 6 or 4 of these panels, for example, 40 cm x 20 cm or 60 cm x 20 cm in series in an aluminum sash frame, to provide a 120 cm x 40 cm NEDO standard high power panel.

In addition, this NEDO standard panel is made by laminating another glass plate using Seaflex on the reflective surface side (upper side in the drawing) of the photoelectric conversion device of the present invention, and the photoelectric conversion device is placed between them. It is also effective to increase mechanical strength.

In FIGS. 1 to 4, light was incident from the lower glass plate. However, the present invention does not limit the light incident side to the lower side.

That is, by using a substrate having a flexible insulating surface, such as anodized aluminum, and using CTF ITO as the second electrode on the top surface, photoelectric conversion can be performed by incidence from the top surface. possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a panel of a photoelectric conversion device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the manufacturing process of the photoelectric conversion device of the present invention. 3 and 4 are enlarged sectional views showing the photoelectric conversion device of FIG. 1 according to the present invention. Patent applicant (A) C[l) p3(2″1 31)2/r 1 cty) 44r

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A step of forming a first conductive film on a substrate having an insulating surface, and forming a first groove in the conductive film to form an external lead electrode region and a photoelectric conversion element region. a step of separating the
forming a non-single crystal semiconductor on the electrode region, the element region, and the groove; and forming a second conductive film on the semiconductor; A method for manufacturing a photoelectric conversion semiconductor device, characterized in that a conductive film pad and a second conductive film of the photoelectric conversion element adjacent to the region are formed using the same material and in the same process. 2. A step of forming a first conductive film on a substrate having an insulating surface, a step of forming a non-single crystal semiconductor on the external lead electrode region and the photoelectric conversion element region on the conductive 11 mulberry, and forming and removing grooves in the non-single crystal semiconductor between the partial region and the element region and the first conductive film under the semiconductor to expose side surfaces of the first conductive film; , forming a second conductive film on the trench including the element region, the electrode region, and the side surface of the first conductive film; 1. forming a trench in at least the second conductive film; the electrode region and the second region of the element adjacent to the region;
a second electrode part of the electrode part;
A method for manufacturing a photoelectric conversion semiconductor device, characterized in that the conductive film is provided in electrical connection with a side surface of the first electrode of the element. 3. A method for manufacturing a photoelectric conversion semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the grooves are formed by irradiating laser light.