Kozo Fujiwara

Enhanced quantum efficiency of solar cells with self-assembled Ge dots stacked in multilayer structure

We report on the performance of solar cells with stacked self-assembled Ge dots in the intrinsic region of Si-based p-i-n diode. These dots were epitaxially grown on p-type Si(100) substrate via the Stranski–Krastanov growth mode by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy. Enhanced external quantum efficiency (EQE) in the infrared region up to 1.45 μm was observed for the solar cells with stacked self-assembled Ge dots compared with that without Ge dots. Furthermore, the EQE was found to increase with increasing number of stacking. These results show that electron-hole pairs generated in Ge dots can be efficiently separated by the internal electric field, and can contribute to the photocurrent without considerable recombination in Ge dots or at Ge/Si interfaces.

Compositional variation in Si-rich SiGe single crystals grown by multi-component zone melting method using Si seed and source crystals

The effect of the supply of depleted Si solute elements on the compositional variation in the Si-rich SiGe bulk crystals was studied using the method which was used to grow Ge-rich SiGe single crystals with a uniform composition. By selecting the proper pulling rate, we can obtain Si-rich Si1−xGex bulk crystals with uniform composition of x=0.1 without using the supply mechanism of depleted Si solute elements. When the supply mechanism of Si solute elements was used, the initial composition in Si-rich SiGe crystals can be much more easily determined by controlling the growth temperature than that in Ge-rich crystals because the Si seed crystal is not melted down. The supply of Si solute elements is very effective to change the compositional variation even for Si-rich SiGe crystals.

Growth and properties of SiGe multicrystals with microscopic compositional distribution for high-efficiency solar cells

Abstract The growth technique and physical properties of SiGe multicrystals with microscopic compositional distribution are demonstrated for new high-efficiency solar cells in which the wavelength dependence of the absorption coefficient can be freely designed by controlling the compositional distribution in the SiGe multicrystals. This growth technique is suitable for the practical casting method, and it is made up of melt growth of SiGe multicrystals with wide and microscopic distribution of the composition from Si to Ge all over the crystals. It is studied how much widely the microscopic compositional distribution in SiGe multicrystals grown from binary Si–Ge melts can be controlled by the melt composition and the cooling process. The range of the microscopic compositional distribution becomes wider as the starting Si concentration in the growth melt becomes larger. SiGe multicrystals with various microscopic compositional distribution can be freely controlled by optimizing the melt composition and the cooling process. The wavelength dependence of the absorption coefficient of such SiGe multicrystals can also be freely designed. Using the experimentally determined absorption coefficient of a SiGe crystal with microscopic compositional distribution, the short circuit photo-current of solar cells was calculated and it is demonstrated that the short circuit photo-current can be much larger for SiGe with microscopic compositional distribution than for SiGe with uniform composition. Si thin film can be easily grown on such a SiGe multicrystal and the Si/SiGe heterostructure can be obtained. These results show that SiGe multicrystals with microscopic compositional distribution are hopeful for new high-efficiency solar cell applications by using the practical casting method.

Melt growth of multicrystalline SiGe with large compositional distribution for new solar cell applications

Abstract The melt-growth conditions to obtain SiGe multicrystals with microscopic compositional distribution are presented. These SiGe multicrystals are useful for new solar cells whose wavelength dependence of the absorption coefficient can be freely designed. The multicrystals with wide compositional distribution from Si to Ge can be grown by a melt growth technique such as the practical casting method. In this work, it was studied as to how much the micro- and macroscopic compositional distribution in SiGe multicrystals grown from binary Si–Ge melts could be controlled by the melt composition and the cooling process. Such SiGe multicrystals with wide distribution of the composition would also have wide distribution of the absorption coefficient, and could be hopeful for new solar cell applications using the practical casting method.

Influence of the elastic strain on the band structure of ellipsoidal SiGe coherently embedded in the Si matrix

We report on a theoretical investigation of the elastic strain in an ellipsoidal SiGe inclusion coherently embedded in Si and its influence on the band structure of SiGe. The strain was calculated as a function of the Ge fraction in SiGe and the aspect ratio of the ellipsoid, and utilized to derive the shift of the band edge. When the principal axis of the ellipsoid was chosen to be parallel to [001], the band structure of SiGe was predicted to be Si like regardless of the aspect ratio. The band gap of strained SiGe was also calculated, and the deviation of the aspect ratio from unity was found to be effective to decrease the band gap due to the breaking of the crystal symmetry. These results suggest the importance of controlling strain, shape, and local Ge fraction in multicrystalline SiGe, which we propose as a promising material for solar cell applications.

Stacked Ge islands for photovoltaic applications

Abstract Stacked Ge islands formed via the Stranski–Krastanov growth mode were incorporated into the intrinsic layer of Si-based pin diode to improve the performance of the solar cells in the near-infrared regime. The onset of the external quantum efficiency was extended up to around 1.4 mm for the solar cells with stacked Ge islands. The quantum efficiency was found to increase with increasing number of stacking, and the onset of the photocurrent response was in good agreement withroom-temperature photoluminescence energy of the Ge islands. These results manifest that the Ge islands did play a role toincrease the quantum efficiency. Furthermore, a part of electron-hole pairs generated within Ge islands was separated by the internal electric field and contribute to the photocurrent.

High-Quality Crystalline Silicon Layer Grown by Liquid Phase Epitaxy Method at Low Growth Temperature

We investigated the effect of growth temperature on crystal quality of crystalline silicon layers grown by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) with gold-bismuth binary alloy solvent. The electrical and structural properties were examined by means of minority-carrier lifetime measurement and micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy. Both electrical and structural qualities improve with decreasing growth temperature. In the present study, the lifetime of the silicon layer grown at the lowest temperature was higher than that of monocrystalline silicon substrate though the solvent includes gold which is a well-known strong recombination site. On the other hand, the structural quality of layers is inferior to that of the substrate even at the lowest growth temperature. Thus, the temperature dependence of lifetime was concluded to be mainly due to the reduction of the solubility of gold impurity in the layer rather than the improvement of structural quality.

Strain distribution of Si thin film grown on multicrystalline-SiGe with microscopic compositional distribution

We report on growth and characterizations of Si/multicrystalline-SiGe (mc-SiGe) heterostructure as a promising candidate to surpass mc-Si solar cells. Spatial distribution of the status of strain in Si was investigated using microscopic Raman spectroscopy. The strain was found to be strongly influenced by the composition and microstructure of underlying mc-SiGe. Spatial variation of the strain as well as strain relaxation was found to be suppressed by decreasing average Ge composition of underlying SiGe.