DECLARATIONOF XIN MIN LIU
`
`I, Xin Min Liu, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746 and 37 C.F.R. § 1.68, hereby declare as
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`follows:
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`1.
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`2.
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`I am a Translator for Sun IP.
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`I submit this declaration to certify the accuracy of the English translation of Li et
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`al., Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell with Novel Structure, CN Patent 1949545A (Apr. 18, 2007).
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`3.
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`I am qualified to perform Chinese to English translations and certify the accuracy
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`of Chinese to Englishtranslations.
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`4.
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`My statements are based on personal knowledge and myreview ofLiet al.,
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`Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell with Novel Structure, CN Patent 1949545A (Apr. 18, 2007) andits
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`Chinese to English translation. If called as a witness about the facts contained in these
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`statements,I could testify competently based on such personal knowledge andthe investigation I
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`have conducted.
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`5.
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`Attached as Exhibit A is a true and accurate copyofLi et al., Crystalline Silicon
`
`Solar Cell with Novel Structure, CN Patent 1949545A (Apr. 18, 2007).
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`6.
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`Attached as Exhibit B is a true and accurate copy of an English translation of Li
`
`et al., Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell with Novel Structure, CN Patent 1949545A (Apr. 18, 2007)
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`(hereinafter “Li Translation”), which I reviewed based on Exhibit A and my personal knowledge
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`of the Chinese and English languages.
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`7.
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`Li Translation is, to the best of my knowledge andability, a true and accurate
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`translation of Li et al., Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell with Novel Structure, CN Patent 1949545A
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`(Apr. 18, 2007) from Chinese to English.
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`HANWHA1009
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`HANWHA 1009
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`

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`8.
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`All statements made herein of my own knowledgearetrue, andall statements
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`madeon information and belief are believed to betrue.
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`9.
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`I have been warned and am awarethat these statements are made with the
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`knowledgethat willful false statements and the like so made are punishable byfine or
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`imprisonment, or both, under 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
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`10.
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`I understand that by submitting this declaration I may be asked to appearfor a
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`deposition asking me questionslimited to the material in my declaration. With my signature
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`below,I agree to make reasonable efforts to make myself available for such a deposition at a
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`reasonable place and time.
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`I declare under the penalty of perjury that the foregoingis true and correct. Executed on
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`July18, 2024 in the United States.
`
`oe
`
`Xin Min Liu
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`

`

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`
`EXHIBIT A
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`EXHIBIT B
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`[19] China National Intellectual Property Administration
`[12] Specification for Publication
`of Invention Patent Application
`[21] Application No. 200610153054.7
`
`[51] Int. Cl.
`H01L31/042 (2006.01)
`H01L31/072 (2006.01)
`
`[11] Publication No. CN 1949545A
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`[43] Publication Date
`April 18, 2007
`[22] Application Date
`2006.9.21
`[21] Application No. 200610153054.7
`[71]Applicant Beijing Solar Energy Inst. Co., Ltd.
`Address
`No. 3, Huayuan Road, Haidian
`District, Beijing 100083
`[72] Inventors
`LI Xudong, LI Hailing, XU Ying,
`SONG Shuang, HENG Yang
`
`1 page of Claims 2 pages of Specification
`1 page of Accompanying Drawings
`
`[54] Title
`CRYSTALLINE SILICON SOLAR CELL WITH NOVEL STRUCTURE
`[57] Abstract
`silicon thin film which is first deposited on the
`N-type monocrystalline silicon. By adopting the
`A crystalline silicon solar cell adopting an
`cell structure in the present invention, cell
`emitting region on a back surface of thin film
`efficiency can reach 20% or above.
`silicon belongs to a photovoltaic cell with a
`novel structure. The crystalline silicon solar cell
`is characterized in that a layer of silicon thin film
`is deposited on a back surface of an N-type
`monocrystalline silicon substrate to form a
`heterogeneous PN junction so as to replace a
`homogeneous PN junction prepared on a front
`surface of the cell by a conventional diffusion
`method. The silicon thin film deposited in the
`present invention can be an amorphous thin film,
`a microcrystalline thin film, or a nanocrystalline
`thin film. The heterogeneous PN junction in the
`present invention can be a P-type silicon thin
`film directly deposited on
`the N-type
`monocrystalline silicon, or can also be a P-type
`silicon thin film deposited on a layer of intrinsic
`
`Schematic diagram of a solar cell with a novel
`structure
`
`(cid:28595)
`
`

`

`Claims
`Page 1/1
`200610153054.7
`1. A heterojunction solar cell, characterized in that an emitting region is on a back surface of the
`cell, and a heterogeneous PN junction is formed at the same time.
`2. The solar cell of claim 1, characterized in that the solar cell is structurally a positive
`electrode/anti-reflection layer/surface textured N-type crystalline silicon/silicon thin film/back
`electrode.
`3. The solar cell of claim 1, characterized in that the emitting region is on the back surface of the
`cell.
`4. The solar cell of claim 1, characterized by the heterogeneous PN junction.
`5. The solar cell of claim 3, characterized in that the heterogeneous PN junction can be structurally
`an N-type crystalline silicon/P-type silicon thin film, or can also be an N-type crystalline
`silicon/intrinsic silicon thin film/P-type silicon thin film.
`6. The solar cell of claim 4, characterized in that the silicon thin film can be an amorphous silicon
`thin film, a microcrystalline silicon thin film, or a nanocrystalline silicon thin film.
`
`(cid:28595)
`2
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`

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`200610153054.7
`
`Specification
`Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell with Novel Structure
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`Page 1/2
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`I. Technical Field
`The present invention relates to a novel structure of a solar cell and belongs to the field of solar energy
`applications.
`II. Background Art
`Crystalline silicon solar cells account for more than 90% of photovoltaic market shares in the global world.
`Such cells generally adopt P-type crystalline silicon to form an N-type emitting region through high-
`temperature diffusion and belong to homogeneous PN junction solar cells. However, such cells have the
`disadvantages that the high-temperature diffusion may cause more defects in silicon materials, and when
`pollution is caused in a high-temperature process, cell efficiency will be greatly reduced. Thus, higher
`requirements are put forward for both materials and a production environment. In addition, back surfaces of
`such cells are free of effective passivation and an effective light trapping structure. Thus, recombination on the
`back surfaces is relatively serious, and a part of light penetrates an active region of the cells and is not absorbed.
`These disadvantages are reasons that limit improvement of the efficiency of conventional solar cells.
`In recent years, an amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cell (HIT cell) has been
`developed by Sanyo in Japan. Such cell adopts an N-type monocrystalline silicon wafer and deposits an
`amorphous silicon thin film on a surface of the silicon wafer. An emitting region is a P-type amorphous silicon
`thin film deposited on a front surface of the silicon wafer. A front surface structure of the cell is a metal
`grid/transparent
`conductive
`thin
`film
`(TCO)/P-type
`amorphous
`silicon/intrinsic
`amorphous
`silicon/monocrystalline silicon wafer. The structure makes full use of a good surface passivation effect of the
`amorphous silicon, and the efficiency of the prepared cell reaches 20% or above.
`Adoption of N-type silicon has the advantages that the N-type silicon wafer generally has a long minority
`carrier lifetime, and the silicon wafer with high quality is easy to obtain. The N-type silicon is also more
`tolerant to impurities than the P-type silicon. For solar cells, P-type silicon cells will have efficiency attenuation
`to a certain degree after long-term exposure to light, and the attenuation is related to boron-oxygen defects in
`materials. After the N-type silicon is used, the problem no longer exists.
`Adoption of the amorphous silicon emitting region has the advantage that the amorphous silicon has a
`good surface passivation effect. Moreover, a deposition temperature is low (200°C), and a process is relatively
`simple, such that a high-temperature process is avoided, and the manufacturing cost of the cell is reduced.
`However, the HIT cell also has weaknesses. Because the amorphous silicon emitting region is on the front
`surface, a thickness of the amorphous silicon thin film is limited (generally 20 μm), such that incident light
`loss is increased when the thickness is increased. However, it is generally believed that the amorphous thin
`film with the thickness of 50 μm or above can achieve a good surface passivation effect. When the amorphous
`emitting region is too thin, the situation of complete depletion of carriers in the emitting region may even occur,
`leading to reduction of the cell efficiency. In addition, because the transparent conductive thin film needs to be
`used on the front surface of the cell, about 10% of light loss (generally, the transmittance of the transparent
`conductive thin film is up to 90%) will also be caused.
`In view of the problems of the conventional homojunction cells and the HIT cells, the present invention
`provides a novel cell structure: a crystalline silicon solar cell adopting an emitting region on a back surface of
`thin film silicon. The solar cell adopts an amorphous silicon (which can also be microcrystalline silicon or
`nano-silicon) heterojunction emitting region and deposits the emitting region on a back surface of a silicon
`wafer. The cell first avoids light loss caused by the amorphous silicon layer and the transparent conductive thin
`film on the front surface, such that the cell efficiency can be improved by 10% or above, compared to the HIT
`cell. In addition, the thickness of a thin film silicon layer is not limited, which can provide better surface
`passivation. A thin film silicon/metal structure on a back surface of the cell can also provide a good light
`trapping effect.
`According to the cell with the novel structure, because a PN junction is placed on the back surface of the
`cell, requirements for the minority carrier lifetime are high, and thus, high-quality crystalline silicon materials
`need to be used. However, improvement of the cell efficiency and simplification of processes can make up for
`
`(cid:28595)
`3
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`

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`Page 2/2
`
`Specification
`200610153054.7
`adverse influence caused by increase of material costs.
`III. Summary of the Invention
`The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of existing cell structures so as to
`obtain a crystalline silicon solar cell having an emitting region on a back surface with high conversion
`efficiency and a simple manufacturing process.
`The present invention is achieved by the following technical solutions. A layer of silicon thin film is
`deposited on a back surface of N-type monocrystalline silicon to form an emitting region (a P-type silicon thin
`film can be deposited on a layer of intrinsic silicon thin film which is first deposited on the back surface of the
`N-type monocrystalline silicon, or a P-type silicon thin film can be directly deposited on the N-type
`monocrystalline silicon). The silicon thin film can be prepared by any deposition method, and the silicon thin
`film can be an amorphous silicon thin film, a microcrystalline silicon thin film, or a nanocrystalline silicon
`thin film. Compared with conventional homojunction P-type crystalline silicon solar cells, the use of the
`structure not only effectively avoids influence of boron-oxygen defects in P-type cells, but also effectively
`passivates the back surface. In addition, a metal electrode layer on the back surface can re-reflect light that
`penetrates the cell back into the cell, thereby increasing an absorption rate of the light by the cell. Compared
`with foreign amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells (HIT cells), the emitting region of
`the structure is on the back surface of the cell, and a front surface no longer requires a transparent conductive
`thin film to collect current, such that efficiency loss caused by absorption of incident solar energy by a silicon
`thin film and the transparent conductive thin film on the front surface can be avoided. By adopting the cell
`structure in the present invention, cell efficiency can reach 20% or above.
`IV. Brief Description of the Drawings
`The accompanying drawing is a structural schematic diagram of such a novel solar cell. In the figures: (1)
`back electrode; (2) silicon thin film prepared by a deposition method; (3) N-type crystalline silicon; (4) highly
`doped N+ layer; (5) anti-reflection layer; (6) positive electrode.
`V. Detailed Description of Embodiments
`Technical solution: A high-quality N-type monocrystalline silicon wafer (3) with a thickness of less than
`300 μm and a resistivity of 5–500 Ωcm is adopted. After surfaces are cleaned and textured by a standard
`industrial process, a highly doped N+ layer (4) with a sheet resistance of 100–300 Ω/□ is first diffused on the
`front surface (the layer is used for passivating the front surface of a cell by using changes in doping
`concentration and for providing good ohmic contact to a front surface electrode). A thin film (5) having an
`anti-reflection effect, such as SiN or SiO2, etc., with a thickness of 70–120 nm, is deposited or grows on the
`N+ layer. A silicon thin film (2), such as amorphous silicon, microcrystalline silicon, or nanocrystalline silicon,
`with a thickness of 20-200 nm, is deposited on the back surface of the N-type monocrystalline silicon wafer
`(3). Finally, a positive electrode (6) is prepared on the anti-reflection layer (5), and a negative electrode (1) is
`prepared on the silicon thin film.
`A technical means adopted in the present invention is to achieve an emitting region by depositing the
`silicon thin film on the back surface of the cell. Compared with a P-type silicon wafer diffused N-type emitting
`region used in most factories at present, the N-type silicon can effectively reduce the generation of boron-
`oxygen defects under illumination and resulting attenuation of conversion efficiency. In addition, a PN junction
`is prepared by a low-temperature deposition method, which avoids a conventional diffusion process at 800-
`1000°C. Such high-temperature process will cause more defects or contamination in a silicon material, which
`will affect the improvement of cell efficiency. In addition, the silicon thin film deposited on the back surface
`of the silicon wafer, whether it is amorphous silicon, microcrystalline silicon, or nanocrystalline silicon, can
`achieve a passivation effect on the back surface, thereby improving the cell efficiency. At least one surface of
`the front surface or the back surface of the structure can be subjected to texturing treatment to reduce light
`reflection and improve a light trapping effect, which is conducive to improving the photoelectric conversion
`efficiency of the cell. An anti-reflection film can be prepared on the texturing surface to further improve the
`photoelectric conversion efficiency of the cell.
`
`(cid:28595)
`4
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`

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`200610153054.7
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`Drawings of the Specification
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`Page 1/1
`
`Schematic diagram of a solar cell with a novel structure
`
`(cid:28595)
`5
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`