Conductive paste for forming a solar cell electrode

Abstract

A conductive paste for forming a solar cell electrode, including: a conductive powder comprising silver as a main component; glass frit; and an organic vehicle, wherein the glass frit contains tellurium glass frit having tellurium oxide as a network-forming component. The conductive paste of the present invention makes it possible to form a solar cell electrode having a low dependence on firing temperature without causing problems due to fire-through into the substrate, and to thereby obtain a solar cell having good solar cell characteristics.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for manufacturing a solar cell device, comprising the steps of providing a semiconductor substrate exhibiting one conductivity type; forming a region exhibiting a conductive type opposite to the one conductivity type of the semiconductor substrate on a surface of the semiconductor substrate from a light-receiving surface thereof; forming an antireflective film on the region; and forming a front electrode on the antireflective film,
 wherein the front electrode is formed by applying a conductive paste including a conductive powder comprising silver as a main component, glass frit and an organic vehicle onto the antireflective film; and firing the applied conductive paste, the glass frit containing tellurium glass frit having tellurium oxide as a network-forming component.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the tellurium glass frit contains 25 to 90 mol % of the tellurium oxide. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the tellurium glass frit further contains at least one of tungsten oxide and molybdenum oxide. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the tellurium glass frit contains a total of 5 to 60 mol % of at least one of the tungsten oxide and the molybdenum oxide. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the tellurium glass frit further contains at least one selected from the group consisting of zinc oxide, bismuth oxide and aluminum oxide. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the tellurium glass frit contains the following components:
 tellurium oxide: 25 to 90 mol %   at least one of tungsten oxide and molybdenum oxide: 5 to 60 mol % in total   zinc oxide: 0 to 50 mol %   bismuth oxide: 0 to 25 mol %   aluminum oxide: 0 to 25 mol %.   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the tellurium glass frit is contained in the amount of 0.1 to 10 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the conductive powder.