Patent ID: 8373058

Claim:
A solar cell comprising: a first electrode layer having a light transmitting property; a second electrode layer having a light reflecting property; a photoelectric conversion layer provided between the first and second electrode layers, containing amorphous silicon, and converting light energy into electrical energy; and an optical absorption layer provided between the photoelectric conversion layer and the second electrode layer and having electrical conductivity and a light absorbing property, wherein the optical absorption layer is a single metal; a product αT between an absorption coefficient α and a thickness T of the optical absorption layer is in a range of 0.2 to 3.0; and the single metal of the optical absorption layer is a single metal selected from a group consisting of aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), gold, (Au), manganese (Mn), niobium (Nb), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), and zinc (Zn).