Sponge-like Si-SiO2 nanocomposite absorber for next generation PV cells

To increase the market share of Si-based thin film PV cells their efficiency has to be improved without increasing of the module costs. Sponge-like Si-SiO2 nanocomposite has a potential to be a low cost and efficient absorber for next generation PV. It consists of Si embedded in SiO2 fabricated by spinodal decomposition of sputter-deposited silicon-rich oxide SiOx≈1. Thermal treatment using rapid thermal processing and furnace annealing requires annealing times of few tens of sec. up to few tens of min. However, in a thin film technology the phase separation of SiOx at high temperatures requires a very rapid thermal processing of few tens of ms in order to avoid substrate damage. Here, the structure of the Si-SiO2 nanocomposite was investigated by energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM), EFTEM tomography and atom probe tomography which revealed a percolated Si morphology [1]. This is in excellent agreement with atomistic simulations using kinetic Monte-Carlo method [2]. Depending on the annealing time and temperature a feature size in the range of 2..5 nm was found, which is small enough for band gap widening due to quantum confinement [3]. We show that the favorable properties of Si-SiO2 nanocomposite, e.g. quantum size effect and percolated morphology, make it a suitable material for PV absorber. [1] Friedrich, et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 103,133106(2013) [2] Liedke, et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 103,131911(2013) [3] Keles, et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 103,203103(2013)