Abstract: The integrated thin film solar battery of this invention includes a plurality of unit cells serially connected with one another on a same translucent insulating substrate, each of the unit cells including a transparent conductive film electrode, a photoelectric conversion layer, and a back electrode formed in this order so that the transparent conductive film electrode of one unit cell is serially connected to the back electrode of an adjacent unit cell, wherein the transparent conductive film electrode of one unit cell and the back electrode of an adjacent unit cell are connected via a contact line, and the contact line is formed by patterning by scribing the photoelectric conversion layer using a laser beam, and a wavelength of the laser beam exceeding 0.

Abstract: A method of fabricating an integrated thin film solar cell includes the steps of: forming a transparent conductive electrode layer and an amorphous semiconductor photoelectric conversion layer successively on a light-transmitting substrate; forming a rear electrode on the amorphous semiconductor photoelectric conversion layer; and patterning the rear electrode layer by applying a beam of a fourth harmonic generation from an Nd-YAG laser onto the rear electrode layer to form a rear electrode.

Abstract: A method is provided for fabricating solar cells. A transparent conductive film is formed on a transparent substrate having an insulative surface and the transparent conductive film is segmented by a first scribing step to form transparent conductive film electrodes. An amorphous semiconductor layer is formed on the resulting substrate having the transparent conductive film electrodes. The amorphous semiconductor layer is segmented by a second scribing step to form amorphous semiconductor photoelectric conversion layers. A rear electrode layer is formed on the resulting substrate having the amorphous semiconductor photoelectric conversion layers and this rear electrode layer is segmented by a third scribing step to form rear electrodes. The third scribing step includes forming a resist film on the rear electrode layer, forming trenches in the resist film by laser scribing and etching off portions of the rear electrode layer with an etchant by using the resulting resist film as a mask.