Networks of Si nanowires in SiO2 for solar cells

In Si-based thin film solar cells the a-Si:H or nanocrystalline absorber layer can be replaced by a network of Si nanowires (Si nanosponge) embedded in SiO2[1]. The Si nanosponge is formed by spinodal decomposition of metastable SiO layers which have been deposited by different techniques, sputtering, CVD and e-beam evaporation. The spinodal decomposition has been activated by Rapid Thermal Processing and laser annealing. When the volume fraction of Si exceeds ~30% after the phase separation SiOx-->0.5SiO2+(1-0.5x) Si, then Si forms a nanowire network. Energy-Filtered Transmission Electron Microscopy (EFTEM) studies show that nanowires have diameters of a few nanometers with a narrow distribution. This is in excellent agreement with large-scale simulations based on bit-coded kinetic Monte-Carlo. There is a considerable Si band gap widening due to quantum confinement in the nanowire network. As the wire diameter coarsens with time of heat treatment like d~t0.33, the band gap of the Si nanosponge can be optimized for solar cell application. Using an atomistic pseudopotential method, the band gap of sponges have been studied. Finally it will be shown that up-scaling of the nanotechnology described above to large-scale PV cell production is under way by industrial partners. [1] BMBF-TÜBITAK project “RainbowEnergy”, coordinators K.-H. Heinig and A. Aydinli