Integrated thin-film solar battery

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In view of the aforementioned related art, one object of the present invention is to provide a sputtering-deposition method capable of preventing a conducive layer from being charged up and thus discharging when a film including at least one such conductive layer is formed on an insulator substrates.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a solar battery module having a peripheral edge region with an improved appearance.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improve stability and reliability of a photoelectric conversion device having a silver-containing back electrode layer.
In one aspect of the present invention, a sputtering-deposition method employed to form on an insulator substrate a film including at least one layer of conductive material, includes the steps of: preparing a conductive substrate holder in the form of a frame having an opening at its central area and electrically grounded; positioning the substrate to cover the holder's opening; arranging a flexible spacer on a peripheral edge of the substrate, and also superposing a back plate for pressing the substrate against the holder via the spacer; pressing and fixing the back plate to the holder; and in this condition, sputtering a separately provided target to deposit a new layer on a region of the substrate exposed in the holder's opening.
It should be noted that the spacer may be previously arranged on and fixed to the back plate.
Furthermore, the spacer can be formed of Teflon.
RTM.
or an aluminum foil.
In another aspect of the present invention, an integrated thin-film solar battery module includes a stacked-layered body comprised of a transparent electrode layer, a semiconductor layer and a metal electrode layer successively passively deposited on a transparent insulator substrate, and at least a part of the stacked-layered body is divided to form a plurality of photoelectric conversion cells which are in turn electrically interconnected, with the deposited metal electrode layer's region having a peripheral edge intruded by a predetermined short distance inward of any perimeter of the deposited semiconductor layer's region