Patent ID: 8178777

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a solar cell having a grid electrode and a main electrode for external output of electric power from said grid electrode, comprising: forming a metal paste layer serving as a small-width grid electrode on a light-receiving surface of a substrate having a pn junction by a screen method, in which a plate-shaped body including multiple rows of small-width multiple elongated openings, the rows being along a first direction, each row comprising multiple elongated openings spaced from each other along the first direction, each of the openings having a length substantially larger than the width, said multiple rows spaced from each other and aligned along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, wherein each of the multiple elongated openings is along the second direction, is used as a screen, forming a metal paste layer serving as a bar-shaped main electrode electrically connected to said grid electrode, and firing the metal paste layer serving as said grid electrode and the metal paste layer serving as said main electrode, wherein a distance between openings adjacent in a longitudinal direction in said screen is smaller than a width of said bar-shaped main electrode, and wherein said grid electrodes adjacent in the longitudinal direction are connected to each other by formation of said bar-shaped main electrode.