کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
1673297 | 1518090 | 2006 | 4 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
![عکس صفحه اول مقاله: Using silicon nanostructures for the improvement of silicon solar cells' efficiency Using silicon nanostructures for the improvement of silicon solar cells' efficiency](/preview/png/1673297.png)
Silicon nanostructures (ns-Si) show interesting optical and electrical properties as a result of the band gap widening caused by quantum confinement effects. Along with their potential utilization for silicon-based light emitters' fabrication, they could also represent an appealing option for the improvement of energy conversion efficiency in silicon-based solar cells whether by using their luminescence properties (photon down-conversion) or the excess photocurrent produced by an improved high-energy photon's absorption. In this work, we report on the morphological and optical studies of non-stoichiometric silica (SiOx) and silicon nitride (SiNx) layers containing silicon nanostructures (ns-Si) in view of their application for solar cell's efficiency improvement. The morphological studies of the samples performed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) unambiguously show the presence of ns-Si in a crystalline form for high temperature-annealed SiOx layers and for low temperature deposition of SiNx layers. The photoluminescence emission (PL) shows a rather high efficiency in both kind of layers with an intensity of only a factor ∼ 100 lower than that of porous silicon (pi-Si). The photocurrent spectroscopy (PC) shows a significant increase of absorption at high photon energy excitation most probably related to photon absorption within ns-Si quantized states. Moreover, the absorption characteristics obtained from PC spectra show a good agreement with the PL emission states unambiguously demonstrating a same origin, related to Q-confined excitons within ns-Si. Finally, the major asset of this material is the possibility to incorporate it to solar cells manufacturing processing for an insignificant cost.
Journal: Thin Solid Films - Volumes 511–512, 26 July 2006, Pages 163–166