Properties of Si/SiOx quantum well structure for solar cells applications

The SiOx/Si quantum wells (QWs) structures were fabricated by using the successive deposition technique, as quantum confinement device to increase the effective energy bandgap and passivation effect in Si surface for the third generation solar cell applications. In Si/SiOx QWs, the thicknesses of Si layers and SiOx layers were varied between 1 to 5 nm, respectively. The roughness of sputter-deposited Si on SiOx was less than 4 Å in the thickness of 2 nm. By using the SiOx/Si QW structures on Si surfaces, the lifetime measured by u-PCD technique increased as a result of passivated surface effects. The tunneling phenomena and good interface properties were observed in the fabricated QWs structures.