PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15780886
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-06
Publication Date: 2018-12
Patent Classification: ["204", "298150"]

Abstract:
The present invention provides a technique for performing film formation at low cost without causing a short-circuit between sputtered films formed on opposite surfaces of a film-formation target substrate. According to the present invention, in a substrate-holder conveyance mechanism  3,  a substrate holder  11  is conveyed by a first conveyance portion so that the substrate holder  11  passes through a first film formation region; film formation is performed by sputtering on a first surface of a film-formation target substrate  50  held by the substrate holder  11;  the substrate holder  11  is conveyed from the first conveyance portion to a second conveyance portion in such a manner as to make a turn with the up/down orientation of the substrate holder  11  maintained; the substrate holder  11  is conveyed by the second conveyance portion in a direction opposite to the direction of conveyance by the first conveyance portion so that the substrate holder  11  passes through a second film formation region; and film formation is performed by sputtering on a second surface of the film-formation target substrate  50.  The substrate holder  11  has openings  14  and  15  through which first and second surfaces of the film-formation target substrate  50  are exposed, and includes a shield portion  16  for shielding an edge portion of the film-formation target substrate  50  from a film formation material supplied from a second sputtering source.

Claim (Index 4):
A manufacturing method of a solar battery using a film formation apparatus, the film formation apparatus including: a vacuum chamber in which a single vacuum atmosphere is to be formed; a first film formation region provided in the vacuum chamber, the first film formation region including a first sputtering source for performing film formation on a first surface of a film-formation target substrate; a second film formation region provided in the vacuum chamber, the second film formation region including a second sputtering source for performing film formation on a second surface of the film-formation target substrate; a conveyance path formed to have a single annular shape when projected onto a vertical plane, and provided to pass through the first and second film formation regions; and a substrate-holder conveyance mechanism configured to convey, along the conveyance path, a substrate holder holding a film-formation target substrate in a horizontal position, wherein the substrate-holder conveyance mechanism includes: a first conveyance portion configured to convey the substrate holder in a predetermined direction so that the substrate holder passes through the first film formation region; a second conveyance portion configured to convey the substrate holder in a direction opposite to the direction of conveyance by the first conveyance portion so that the substrate holder passes through the second film formation region; and a turning conveyance portion configured to convey the substrate holder from the first conveyance portion to the second conveyance portion in such a manner as to make a turn while maintaining an up/down orientation of the substrate holder, and the substrate holder has openings through which the first and second surfaces of the film-formation target substrate are exposed, and includes a shield portion configured to shield an edge portion of the film-formation target substrate from a film formation material supplied from at least one of the first and second sputtering sources,\n the manufacturing method, comprising the steps of: preparing, as the film-formation target substrate, a substrate composed of: an n-type crystalline silicon substrate; an i-type amorphous silicon layer and a p-type amorphous silicon layer stacked in this order over a first surface of the n-type crystalline silicon substrate; and an i-type amorphous silicon layer and an n-type amorphous silicon layer stacked in this order over a second surface of the n-type crystalline silicon substrate; conveying the substrate holder by the first conveyance portion of the substrate-holder conveyance mechanism in a predetermined direction along the conveyance path so that the substrate holder passes through the first film formation region, and forming a first transparent conductive oxide layer by sputtering on the first surface of the film-formation target substrate held by the substrate holder; conveying, by the turning conveyance portion of the substrate-holder conveyance mechanism, the substrate holder from the first conveyance portion to the second conveyance portion in such a manner as to make a turn along the conveyance path while maintaining the up/down orientation of the substrate holder; and conveying, by the second conveyance portion of the substrate-holder conveyance mechanism, the substrate holder in the direction opposite to the direction of conveyance by the first conveyance portion along the conveyance path so that the substrate holder passes through the second film formation region, and forming a second transparent conductive oxide layer by sputtering on the second surface of the film-formation target substrate held by the substrate holder.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 7.0
- Percentile: 94.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.82143
- Patent Class: 204.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: True
- Related Applications: ['10896046', '09498375', '15168898', '14556608', '14577076']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7856909012461131
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4789569013599397
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7550175012574957
- Mean Citation Score: 204.98245000000003
- Max Citation Score: 216.87325
- Similarity Product: 165.88031840351226

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 0
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test