Patent ID: 8257994

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a solar cell, comprising: diffusing p type impurity into at least a portion of a first surface, which is one surface of a silicon substrate, to form a high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer; etching one of said first surface of said silicon substrate and a second surface of said silicon substrate opposite to said first surface, using as a mask at least one of said high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer and a film formed on said high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer upon forming said high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer; and wherein said high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer is formed by diffusing boron into said first surface of said silicon substrate as said p type impurity, said film is a layered body constituted by a boron silicide layer and a boron silicate glass layer, said etching is wet etching employing an alkali solution, and at least one selected from a group consisting of said high concentration p type impurity diffusion layer, said boron silicide layer, and said boron silicate glass layer serves as said mask.