NOVELTY - Photovoltaic element has a semiconductor substrate with a light incident surface and a rear surface; an intrinsic semiconductor film on the rear surface; a p-type conductive semiconductor portion on the semiconductor film; a first electrode connected to the p-type semiconductor portion; an n-type conductive semiconductor portion on the semiconductor film; and a second electrode connected to the n-type semiconductor portion.    USE - Useful as a solar cell for generating power.    ADVANTAGE - Since the photovoltaic element, e.g. a solar cell, has no transparent electrodes on the front surface, it has a good efficiency of photovoltaic conversion, e.g. a high efficiency of generating electric power, and does not have shielding loss. The inventive photovoltaic element can effectively maintain the substrate with high quality to such an extent that carriers have long lifetime. Productivity of forming films can relatively be enhanced.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - A photovoltaic element comprises a semiconductor substrate (11) having a light incident surface and a rear surface opposite to the light incident surface; an intrinsic semiconductor film (12) having a thickness of 0.1-50 nm, and being disposed on the rear surface; a p-type conductive semiconductor portion (13) disposed on the intrinsic semiconductor film; a first electrode (15) connected to the p-type conductive semiconductor portion; an n-type conductive semiconductor portion (14) disposed on the intrinsic semiconductor film; and a second electrode (16) connected to the n-type conductive semiconductor portion. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a method of manufacturing a photovoltaic element, comprising preparing a crystalline semiconductor substrate having a conductivity type; adhering an intrinsic semiconductor film to a surface of the substrate; and forming a p-type conductive semiconductor portion and an n-type conductive semiconductor portion on the intrinsic semiconductor film so that the p-type conductive semiconductor portion is separated from the n-type conductive semiconductor portion.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a schematic view showing a photovoltaic element.    Semiconductor substrate (11)    Intrinsic semiconductor film (12)    P-type conductive semiconductor portion (13)    N-type conductive semiconductor portion (14)    First electrode (15)    Second electrode (16)    Antireflection film (18)