To provide a polycrystalline silicon substrate for a solar cell, capable of acquiring conversion efficiency equal to or more than that of a conventional polycrystalline silicon substrate, when a solar cell is built into the substrate, while enabling low cost for more than in the conventional polycrystalline silicon substrate because it employs a low-purity silicon as the main material.

The polycrystalline silicon substrate for a solar cell employs a polycrystalline silicon base 101 fabricated by melting and solidifying a metallic silicon as a material. A method of the polycrystalline silicon substrate for a solar cell includes a process of forming an amorphous silicon layer on the base 101, on which an impurity element existing locally on the surface and exposed; a process of heating the amorphous silicon layer in a hydrogen atmosphere, to form a silicon layer 103 crystallized in a crystal orientation of the polycrystalline silicon base; and a process of forming a solar cell-class silicon layer 105 by a liquid phase method on the crystallized silicon layer.