CN112359332A

CN112359332A - Manufacturing method and manufacturing equipment of solar cell

Info

Publication number: CN112359332A
Application number: CN202011156273.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 齐庆
Original assignee: Suzhou Liannuo Solar Energy Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Suzhou Liannuo Solar Energy Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-10-26
Filing date: 2020-10-26
Publication date: 2021-02-12
Anticipated expiration: 2040-10-26
Also published as: CN112359332B

Abstract

The application relates to a manufacturing method and manufacturing equipment of a solar cell. The manufacturing method of the solar cell is used for improving the water resistance of the solar cell and comprises the following steps: providing a substrate; transferring the substrate to a process chamber; and coating the substrate to form the transparent conductive film with a polycrystalline structure. The water resistance of the solar cell can be effectively improved.

Description

Manufacturing method and manufacturing equipment of solar cell

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of photovoltaic technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a solar cell.

Background

Solar energy is an inexhaustible clean energy source in the nature. In recent years, the utilization of the photoelectric conversion solar energy has been greatly developed, the technology has been continuously improved, and the market is rapidly expanded. Among them, the heterojunction solar cell is also called HJT cell, which is a hybrid solar cell. The solar cell has the advantages of low temperature of the preparation process, high open-circuit voltage, high conversion efficiency, low temperature coefficient and the like, and is a high-efficiency solar cell which is most widely applied at present.

The heterojunction solar cell generally comprises a substrate, a P-type semiconductor layer and an N-type semiconductor layer which are respectively formed on two sides of the substrate, and a transparent conductive thin film is formed on the surface of the P-type semiconductor layer far away from the substrate and/or the surface of the N-type semiconductor layer far away from the substrate. The transparent conductive film has important functions of collecting and transmitting current, a reflection reducing film and the like.

Photovoltaic modules formed from solar cells are typically used by direct exposure to the atmosphere. Therefore, it is required to have a certain resistance to environmental factors such as temperature change, ultraviolet irradiation, and water vapor corrosion, so as to prevent the deterioration of the photoelectric conversion performance, thereby affecting the practical value. However, in the prior art, the transparent conductive thin film of the heterojunction solar cell has poor water resistance, which seriously affects the reliability under outdoor conditions.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, it is necessary to provide a method for manufacturing a transparent conductive film, a device for manufacturing a transparent conductive film, and a solar cell, in order to solve the problem of poor water resistance of the transparent conductive film in the prior art.

A method for manufacturing a solar cell is used for improving the water resistance of the solar cell and a component thereof, and in one embodiment, the method comprises the following steps:

providing a substrate;

transferring the substrate to a process chamber;

and coating the substrate to form the transparent conductive film with a polycrystalline structure.

In one embodiment, the transferring the substrate to the process chamber includes:

transferring the substrate from the outside to a pre-treatment chamber;

performing water removal treatment on the pretreatment chamber;

transferring the substrate from the pre-treatment chamber to the process chamber.

In one embodiment, after the transferring the substrate from the pre-treatment chamber to the process chamber, the method further comprises:

and introducing water vapor into the process chamber, and controlling the water content in the process chamber to be less than a first preset content.

In one embodiment, where the first predetermined content is 1E-6mbar, the coating the substrate to form the transparent conductive film having a polycrystalline structure includes:

forming the transparent conductive film on the surface of the substrate based on a tin-doped indium oxide target material, wherein the content ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide in the tin-doped indium oxide target material is 80: 20-99: 1.

In one of the embodiments, the first and second electrodes are,

the transferring the substrate to a process chamber includes:

transferring the substrate from the outside to a heated process chamber;

heating the process chamber to 100-180 ℃;

the coating the substrate to form the transparent conductive film with a polycrystalline structure comprises the following steps:

In one of the embodiments, the first and second electrodes are,

forming the transparent conductive film on the surface of the substrate based on a tin-doped indium oxide target material, wherein the content ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide in the tin-doped indium oxide target material is 97: 3-99: 1.

In one embodiment, the substrate comprises a substrate, a P-type semiconductor layer and an N-type semiconductor layer which are respectively formed on two sides of the substrate, and the transparent conductive film is formed on the surface of the P-type semiconductor layer far away from the substrate and/or the surface of the N-type semiconductor layer far away from the substrate.

A solar cell manufacturing device is used for achieving the solar cell manufacturing method.

In one embodiment, the manufacturing apparatus further includes:

a pre-processing chamber for receiving a substrate transferred from the outside,

the water removal device is used for performing water removal treatment on the pretreatment chamber;

a first mass spectrometer for measuring the moisture content within the pre-treatment chamber;

the first control device is electrically connected with the first mass spectrometer and the water removal device and is used for controlling the water removal device to be opened and closed according to the measurement result of the first mass spectrometer;

the process chamber is used for receiving the substrate transmitted by the pretreatment chamber and coating the substrate to form the transparent conductive film with a polycrystalline structure.

In one embodiment, the manufacturing apparatus further includes:

a second mass spectrometer for measuring moisture content within the process chamber;

the water introducing device is used for introducing water vapor into the process chamber;

and the second control device is connected with the second mass spectrometer and the water passing device and is used for controlling the opening and closing of the water passing device according to the measurement result of the second mass spectrometer.

According to the manufacturing method and the manufacturing equipment of the solar cell, the formed transparent conductive film of the solar cell has a polycrystalline structure, so that the water resistance of the solar cell is improved, and the outdoor reliability of the solar cell module is further improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments or the conventional technologies of the present application, the drawings used in the descriptions of the embodiments or the conventional technologies will be briefly introduced below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following descriptions are only some embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for fabricating a solar cell according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a solar cell according to one embodiment;

3 a-3 c are graphical representations of relevant tests of solar cells obtained in one embodiment;

4 a-4 c are diagrams of related tests of solar cells obtained in the prior art;

FIG. 5 is a XRD characterization of various transparent conductive film samples;

6 a-6 c are graphical representations of relevant tests of the obtained solar cell obtained in another embodiment;

figures 7 a-7 c are graphical representations of relevant tests of the obtained solar cell obtained in yet another embodiment;

fig. 8 is a schematic view of an apparatus for manufacturing a solar cell according to an embodiment.

Detailed Description

To facilitate an understanding of the present application, the present application will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments of the present application are set forth in the accompanying drawings. This application may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The terminology used herein in the description of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application.

As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" may include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises/comprising," "includes" or "including," etc., specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1, a method for manufacturing a solar cell is provided, which includes the following steps:

step S1, providing a substrate;

step S2, transferring the substrate to a process chamber;

step S3, the substrate is coated to form a transparent conductive film having a polycrystalline structure.

In step S1, referring to fig. 2, the base sheet may include a substrate 10 and P-type and N-type semiconductor layers formed on both sides of the substrate 10, respectively.

As an example, the substrate 10 may be a crystalline silicon substrate. The P-type semiconductor layer 20 may be a P-type amorphous silicon layer. The N-type semiconductor layer 30 may be an N-type amorphous silicon layer.

The transparent conductive film 40 may be formed on a surface of the P-type semiconductor layer 20 away from the substrate 10 and a surface of the N-type semiconductor layer 30 away from the substrate 10. In this case, the solar cell is a bifacial solar cell.

Alternatively, the transparent conductive film 40 may be formed on a surface (not shown) of the P-type semiconductor layer 20 away from the substrate 10, or the transparent conductive film 40 may be formed on a surface (not shown) of the N-type semiconductor layer 30 away from the substrate 10. In this case, the solar cell is a single-sided solar cell.

In addition, referring to fig. 2, in the embodiment of the present application, the solar cell may further include an intrinsic amorphous silicon layer 50 formed between the substrate 10 and the N-type semiconductor layer 30, and between the substrate 10 and the P-type semiconductor layer 20. The transparent conductive film 40 may further have a front gate line 60 and a back gate line 70 formed on both sides thereof.

In step S2, the process chamber is a chamber for forming a transparent conductive film. As an example, the process chamber may be a chamber that performs Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD).

It will be appreciated that the transfer of the substrate to the process chamber herein need not be a direct transfer of the substrate from the outside to the process chamber. The substrate may also pass through other chambers before entering the process chamber. For example, it may also enter the feed chamber, buffer chamber, etc. sequentially before entering the process chamber.

In step S3, the transparent conductive film may be, for example, a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) film or the like.

The transparent conductive film having a polycrystalline structure may be a completely polycrystallized transparent conductive film or a partially polycrystallized transparent conductive film, which is not limited in the present application.

The transparent conductive thin film (TCO) of the solar cell formed in this embodiment has a polycrystalline structure. The polycrystalline structure can greatly improve the water resistance of the solar cell, thereby improving the outdoor reliability of a photovoltaic cell module formed by the solar cell.

In one embodiment, step S2 includes:

step S211, transferring the substrate from the outside to a pretreatment chamber;

step S212, performing water removal treatment on the pretreatment chamber;

step S213, transferring the substrate from the pre-processing chamber to a process chamber, so that the moisture content in the process chamber is less than a first predetermined content.

In step S211, the pre-processing chamber is another chamber different from the process chamber, which may receive the substrate transferred from the outside and may transfer the substrate into the process chamber.

In step S212, the pre-processing chamber is subjected to a water removal process, so that the moisture content of the surface of the substrate located therein can be effectively reduced, thereby facilitating the formation of the transparent conductive film having a polycrystalline structure.

It is understood that the "water removal treatment" herein may be a complete water removal or a partial water removal. "completely remove water" is not necessarily a hundred percent removal of water in absolute terms, it being understood that no or little water content may be ignored for this purpose, and may be written as a 0mbar moisture content.

In step S213, the moisture content in the process chamber is less than the first predetermined content, so that the formation of the polycrystalline transparent conductive film can be ensured. The first preset content can be set according to actual conditions.

In one embodiment, step S213 includes: and introducing water vapor into the process chamber, and controlling the water content in the process chamber to be less than a first preset content.

The process chamber is used to provide suitable process conditions for forming the transparent conductive film. In the film forming process conditions of the transparent conductive film, when water vapor needs to be provided, the requirements of the film forming process can be met.

In addition, in the embodiment, the moisture content in the process chamber is controlled to be smaller than the first preset content while introducing the water vapor. This application lets in steam under the prerequisite that moisture content is less than first preset content promptly to guarantee to form polycrystalline structure.

In the embodiment, the moisture on the surface of the substrate is removed in the pretreatment cavity, and then the moisture is introduced into the process cavity, so that the control of the moisture content in the process cavity is facilitated.

In one embodiment, on the basis of the above embodiment, the step S3 further includes: forming a transparent conductive film on the surface of the substrate based on the tin-doped indium oxide target material, wherein the content ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide in the tin-doped indium oxide target material is 80: 20-99: 1. At this time, the transparent conductive film is an ITO film.

In this example, a first predetermined level of 1E-6mbar is also set. At this time, an ITO thin film having a polycrystalline structure can be efficiently formed.

Specifically, in this embodiment, before the ITO film coating process is performed in the process chamber, the moisture content is controlled to be within a range of 1E-6mbar (at this time, more specifically, the nitrogen content may be controlled to be within a range of (9.0E-10mbar, 1.4E-9mbar), and the oxygen content may be controlled to be within a range of (9E-11mbar, 1.1E-10mbar) at the same time). Then, a film is coated on the surface of the substrate to form an ITO film.

Referring to fig. 3a to 3c, in order to apply the method of the present embodiment, the method performs a complete water removal process in step S212, and in step S214, water vapor is introduced to make the moisture content in the process chamber less than 1E-6mbar, and the content ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide in the tin-doped indium oxide target is controlled to be 90: at 10, a related test plot for the first transparent conductive film sample obtained: FIG. 3a is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image; referring to fig. 3b, an Electroluminescence (EL) test chart before a water resistance test is performed; referring to fig. 3c, an Electroluminescence (EL) test chart after a water resistance test is performed.

4 a-4 c are diagrams of related tests of a sample of a conventional transparent conductive film formed in the prior art: FIG. 4a is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image; FIG. 4b is a graph of Electroluminescence (EL) testing before water resistance testing; referring to fig. 4c, an Electroluminescence (EL) test chart after a water resistance test is performed.

Reference is made to fig. 5, which is an X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of different transparent conductive film samples.

As can be seen from comparison of fig. 3, 4 and 5, the transparent conductive film obtained in the present embodiment has a polycrystalline structure, and the cell efficiency decay rate of the solar cell is 3.1% after a water resistance test is performed for 20 hours at 100 ℃ and 100% humidity. However, in the prior art, when the moisture content in the process chamber is not controlled, the obtained transparent conductive film is of an amorphous structure, and after the solar cell is subjected to a water resistance test for 20 hours at 100 ℃ and 100% humidity, the cell efficiency attenuation rate is 25.78%.

From this, it is understood that the water resistance of the solar cell obtained in the present example is effectively improved.

In other embodiments, the form of controlling the moisture content in the process chamber may be different, and is not limited in this application.

For example, the moisture content may be reduced in the pre-treatment chamber to a value required by the process conditions before the substrate is transferred to the process chamber. At this time, the process chamber may not be filled with water vapor.

Alternatively, the moisture content may be set at 0mbar in the pretreatment chamber and then the pretreatment chamber may be charged with the desired value for the process conditions. The substrate is then transferred to the process chamber. At this time, the process chamber may not be filled with water vapor.

In one embodiment, step S2 includes:

step S221, transferring the substrate from the outside to a process chamber;

step S222, heating the process chamber to 100-180 ℃.

Step S3 includes: forming a transparent conductive film on the surface of the substrate based on the tin-doped indium oxide target material, wherein the content ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide in the tin-doped indium oxide target material is 80: 20-99: 1. At this time, the transparent conductive film is an ITO film.

In step S221, the substrate is directly transferred to the process chamber, so that other chambers are not required to be additionally added, and compatibility of the original process chamber is improved.

Referring to fig. 6a to 6c, the content ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide in the tin-doped indium oxide target is specifically controlled to be 90: at 10, a related test plot for the second transparent conductive film sample obtained: FIG. 6a is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image; reference is made to fig. 6b, which is an Electroluminescence (EL) test chart before a water resistance test is performed; reference is made to fig. 6c, which is an Electroluminescence (EL) test chart after a water resistance test is performed.

Referring to fig. 4 a-4 c, related diagrams of a transparent conductive film forming a solar cell in the prior art are shown: FIG. 4a is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image; FIG. 4b is a graph of Electroluminescence (EL) testing before water resistance testing; referring to fig. 4c, an Electroluminescence (EL) test chart after a water resistance test is performed.

As can be seen from comparison of fig. 6, 4 and 5, the transparent conductive film obtained in the present embodiment has a polycrystalline structure, and the cell efficiency decay rate of the solar cell is 3.86% after a water resistance test is performed for 20 hours at 100 ℃ and 100% humidity. However, in the prior art, when the moisture content in the process chamber is not controlled, the obtained transparent conductive film is of an amorphous structure, and after the solar cell is subjected to a water resistance test for 20 hours at 100 ℃ and 100% humidity, the cell efficiency attenuation rate is 25.78%.

In one embodiment, step S3 includes: forming a transparent conductive film on the surface of the substrate based on the tin-doped indium oxide target material, wherein the content ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide in the tin-doped indium oxide target material is 97: 3-99: 1, the deposition temperature is 100-; the deposition pressure is 0.2-2.0 Pa, and the sputtering power density is 2-10 KW/m.

In the embodiment, the ITO film layer with the polycrystalline structure can be simply, conveniently and effectively obtained by controlling the content ratio of the target material.

Referring to fig. 7a to 7c, the content ratio of indium oxide to tin oxide in the tin-doped indium oxide target material is specifically controlled to 97:3, the associated test pattern for the third transparent conductive film sample obtained: FIG. 7a is a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image; fig. 7b is an Electroluminescence (EL) test chart before a water resistance test is performed; fig. 7c is an Electroluminescence (EL) test chart after a water resistance test is performed.

As can be seen from comparison of fig. 7, 4 and 5, the transparent conductive film obtained in the present embodiment has a polycrystalline structure, and the cell efficiency decay rate of the solar cell is 1.05% after a water resistance test is performed for 20 hours at 100 ℃ and 100% humidity. However, when the moisture content in the process chamber is not controlled in the prior art, the obtained transparent conductive film is of an amorphous structure, and after the solar cell is subjected to a water resistance test for 20 hours at 100 ℃ and 100% humidity, the cell efficiency attenuation rate is 25.78%.

In one embodiment, a solar energy manufacturing apparatus is further provided for implementing the solar cell manufacturing method of the claims.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 8, the solar energy production apparatus includes: a pre-treatment chamber 100, a water removal device 300, a first mass spectrometer 400, a first control device 500, and a process chamber 200.

The pre-processing chamber 100 is for receiving a substrate transferred from the outside. The water removal device 300 is used for performing a water removal process on the pre-processing chamber 100. The first mass spectrometer 400 is used to measure the moisture content within the pre-treatment chamber. The first control device 500 is electrically connected to the first mass spectrometer 400 and the water removal device 300, and is configured to control the water removal device 300 to open or close according to the measurement result of the first mass spectrometer. The process chamber 200 is used to receive the substrate transferred from the pre-treatment chamber 200 and coat the substrate to form a transparent conductive film having a polycrystalline structure.

The pre-processing chamber 100 may facilitate the removal of moisture from the substrate surface. The water removal device 300 may be located in the pre-treatment chamber 100, or may be a device in communication with the pre-treatment chamber 100. This is not limited by the present application.

By applying the embodiment of the application, the surface moisture of the substrate in the process chamber can be effectively controlled, so that a polycrystalline structure is formed, and the water resistance is further improved.

In one embodiment, the apparatus for fabricating a solar cell further comprises: a second mass spectrometer 600, a water passing device 700, and a second control device 800.

The second mass spectrometer 600 is used to measure the moisture content within the process chamber. The water passage means 700 is used to introduce water vapor into the process chamber. The second control device 800 is connected to the second mass spectrometer 600 and the water passage device 700, and controls the opening and closing of the water passage device according to the measurement result of the second mass spectrometer.

The second control device 800 may be a PLC control system or the like, and may be the same control device as the first control device 300 or two separate control devices.

As an example, when the manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment is applied to a transparent conductive film:

the substrate placed on the carrier is first transferred into the pre-processing chamber 100.

The water removal device 300 is opened. The first mass spectrometer 400 monitors the moisture content in real time. When the monitored moisture content is 0mbar, the first control device 500 controls the water removal device 300 to be closed, and the carrier plate continuously transfers the substrate into the process chamber 200.

After the substrate enters the process chamber 200, the water passing means 700 is opened. While detection is started at the second mass spectrometer 600. When the moisture content is detected to be less than 1E-6mbar, the coating operation is started.

Wherein the opening and closing of the water passage means 700 is controlled by the second control means 800. When the water vapor content in the chamber detected by the second mass spectrometer 600 is higher than 1E-9mbar, the second control device 800 controls the water passing device 700 to be closed. That is, the coating can be carried out only if the moisture content is below 1E-6 mbar.

In this embodiment, the addition of the water passing device 700 may facilitate the control of the process conditions for forming the transparent conductive film.

In the description herein, references to the description of "some embodiments," "other embodiments," "desired embodiments," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, a schematic description of the above terminology may not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example.

The technical features of the above embodiments can be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are not described, but should be considered as the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above examples only express several embodiments of the present application, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, which falls within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a solar cell is used for improving the water resistance of the solar cell and a component thereof, and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

providing a substrate;

transferring the substrate to a process chamber;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring the substrate to a process chamber comprises:

transferring the substrate from the outside to a pre-treatment chamber;

performing water removal treatment on the pretreatment chamber;

and conveying the substrate from the pretreatment chamber to the process chamber, so that the moisture content in the process chamber is less than a first preset content.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transferring the substrate from the pre-treatment chamber to the process chamber such that the moisture content in the process chamber is less than a first predetermined level comprises:

4. The method for manufacturing a solar cell according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the first predetermined content is 1E-6mbar, and the step of coating the substrate to form the transparent conductive film with a polycrystalline structure comprises:

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the solar cell is fabricated by a solar cell fabrication method,

the transferring the substrate to a process chamber includes:

transferring the substrate from the outside to a heated process chamber;

heating the process chamber to 100-180 ℃;

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the solar cell is fabricated by a solar cell fabrication method,

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the base sheet comprises a substrate, and a P-type semiconductor layer and an N-type semiconductor layer respectively formed on both sides of the substrate, and the transparent conductive film is formed on a surface of the P-type semiconductor layer away from the substrate and/or a surface of the N-type semiconductor layer away from the substrate.

8. A solar cell manufacturing apparatus for implementing the solar cell manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. The apparatus for fabricating a solar cell according to claim 8, further comprising:

10. The apparatus for fabricating a solar cell according to claim 9, further comprising: