Silicon-germanium solar cell having a high power efficiency

[0002] The present application claims priority from German Application No. 10061192.3, filed Dec. 8, 2000, and hereby incorporated by reference herein.

[0003] The present invention is directed to a silicon-germanium thin-film solar cell, as well as to a method for making such a solar cell.

[0004] The power efficiency of thin-film solar cells is determined by their absorptivity. However, silicon solar cells, whose film thickness has been reduced in the active regions for reasons of economics, also experience a reduction in the short-circuit current. To compensate for this, in turn, it is necessary to employ film systems having a highest possible absorptivity in the active region of the cell. Germanium, a material having a smaller band energy gap than silicon, has shown great promise for such a use. For quite some time, silicon-germanium compounds (SiGe) have been known for their outstanding properties, particularly with respect to their compatibility to pure silicon semiconductor technology.

[0005] The publication by Said et al. (Design, Fabrication, and Analysis of Crystalline Si-SiGe Heterostructure Thin-Film Solar Cells, IEEE Trans. on Electr. Dev., vol. 46, no. 10, p. 2103 (1999)), describes a solar cell that is constructed of Si/SiGe heterostructure films. A sharp increase in the power efficiency of the cell is expected from the use of hetero-films. However, increased germanium concentrations caused by the lattice mismatch of the germanium with respect to the silicon substrate, make it necessary to overcome the difficulty of epitaxial deposition of the layers. The dislocations resulting from the mismatching prove to be especially troublesome. The increasing dislocation density due, in particular, to so-called threading dislocations running at the surface, in the absorption region (p-n space-charge region) of the cell, causes the dark current to rise sharply; this leads directly to a decrease in the open terminal voltage (Voc) and to a poor fullness factor of the cell. Just as undesirable is the relaxation of grid bias, which has a direct, negative effect on the band structure and, thus, also on the power efficiency.

[0006] A special germanium film system is described in the publication by Brunhes et al. (Electroluminescence of Ge/Si Self-Assembled Quantum Dots Grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 77, no. 12, p. 1822 (2000)). To manufacture light-emitting diodes, germanium is deposited in island patterns on the silicon substrate. The Ge islands raise the electro- and photoluminescence due to the resonance in the wavelength range of between 1.4-1.5 micrometers.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to improve the power efficiency of a silicon-germanium solar cell.

[0008] The present invention provides a silicon-germanium thin-film solar cell, wherein a quantum well structure composed of a sequence of silicon and germanium layers is arranged on a silicon substrate (1, 2, 3), within the space-charge region of the silicon p-n diode junction (6, 7).

[0009] The layer sequence may be constructed of a quantum well layer (41), a wetting layer (42), a Ge island layer (43), and of an Si cover layer (5), in multiple succession, which exhibits a quantum well structure having a smaller band gap than silicon. The sequence may include a 10 to 20-times repetition of the particular layers.

[0010] Also provided is a method, wherein the layer sequence is produced using molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), low-pressure vapor-phase epitaxy (LP-CVD), or ultra high-vacuum vapor-phase epitaxy (UHV-CVD).

[0011] The present invention includes a silicon (Si)/silicon-germanium (Si/Ge) thin-film solar cell having a quantum well structure within the space-charge region of the silicon p-n diode junction. The quantum well structure is composed of a sequence of silicon and germanium layers. In this manner, a highly absorbent base layer is produced in a silicon-based solar cell.

[0012] On the one hand, the layer sequence of the quantum well structure is formed by the epitaxial growth of self-organizing germanium islands and/or by the deposition of a few atomic monolayers (ML) of silicon and germanium. On the other hand, it is formed from epitaxial Si_nGe_multrathin superlattices (m ML Si; n ML Ge; 1 ML=0.14 nm) on a p-doped silicon substrate. The epitaxial methods used include molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), low-pressure (LP-CVD) or ultra high-vacuum vapor-phase epitaxy (UHV-CVD).

[0013] A significant advantage of the present invention resides in the improved power efficiency in comparison to conventional silicon solar cells, due to a substantially enhanced absorptivity in the base, in particular within the longer-wave region (λ>λ_g^Si) of solar radiation. The above-mentioned, epitaxial deposition of SiGe quantum wells (QWs) and Ge islands, which grow in self-organized fashion in the base without the formation of mismatch dislocations at the Si/SiGe interface, causes the short-circuit current of the cell to rise, without the terminal voltage noticeably subsiding in comparison to the Si reference cell. The Si/SiGe layer sequence of the present invention, which is deposited on the Si substrate and is elastically strained (pseudomorphic), has a band gap which is smaller than that of Si and which absorbs the longer-wave photons below the Si band gap. Therefore, given an unvarying, active layer thickness, the short-circuit current of the cell rises sharply without any attendant, substantial increase in the dark current.

[0014] The present invention is elucidated in the following in light of advantageous exemplary embodiments, reference being made to schematic figures in the drawing, which show:

[0015] FIG. 1 a schematic layer construction of the Ge island solar cell; and

[0016] FIG. 2 a characteristic band pattern of the Ge island solar cell;

[0017] A first exemplary embodiment in accordance with FIG. 1 shows the layer construction of the Ge island solar cell on a silicon <100> substrate:

[0018] As a highly absorbent base layer, the active region is composed of two parts: a wider two-dimensional Si_1−xGe_xQW layer 41 having a relatively low Ge concentration, for example 16 ML=2.2 nm SiGe_0.3, and a thinner layer having a high Ge concentration 42, for example 4 ML Ge, which is used as a wetting layer. This part is alternatively composed of two Si_1−xGe_xQW alloying layers (or Ge_m/Si₂₀/Ge_m, n=2.4) having different Ge concentrations, or of two Si_mGe_nsuperlattices having a different, effective Ge concentration.

[0019] The second part is composed of three-dimensional Ge islands 43, which nucleate on the two-dimensionally grown Ge wetting layer when appropriate deposition parameters (MBE at approx. T=700 C) are selected, without producing any mismatch dislocations at the subjacent hetero-interfaces (Si/SiGe_0.3or SiGe_0.3/Ge). The three-dimensional Ge islands 43 grow on wetting layer 42 in accordance with the so-called Stranski-Krastanov model, in which epitaxial island growth takes place in response to the energy conditions prevailing at the layer surface of the lattice-mismatched semiconductor layer systems. Temperature is an important parameter in layer fabrication, as it controls the diffusion mechanisms on the solid surface. The deposition preferably takes place within a temperature range extending from 500 to 700 C. Disposed between the weakly p-doped base layers (2 10¹⁵cm⁻³; see FIGS. 1, 3, 4) and the n-doped emitter layers is a 500-750 nm thick, p-doped Si interface, which spatially separates the p-n junction from the Si/SiGe hetero-junction, and also places the active layers at an optimal distance to the emitter surface (see K. Said et al., IEEE EDL 46, p. 2103 (1999)). The dopant levels are selected in such a way that the SiGe quantum wells are situated within the space-charge region.