Structural investigations of silicon nanostructures grown by self-organized island formation for photovoltaic applications

Roczen, Maurizio; Schade, Martin; Malguth, E.; Callsen, Gordon; Barthel, Thomas; Gref, Orman; Töfflinger, Jan Amaru; Schöpke, A.; Schmidt, M.; Leipner, Hartmut S.; Ruske, F.; Phillips, M. R.; Hoffmann, A.; Korte, Lars; Rech, Bernd

doi:10.1007/s00339-012-6956-9

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…6 ). Further detailed studies will be required to gain a clearer insight but our initial considerations suggest that the role of PEOz ND structures may be different from the conventional island-interface effect bestowed by metal (Ag) clusters, conical island titanium oxide (TiO 2 ), and silicon (Si) nanodots, in which surface plasmon and effects have been proposed to play a significant role 63 64 65 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inverted polymer fullerene solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency with poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) nanodots on electron-collecting buffer layers

et al. 2015

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Polymer solar cells have been spotlighted due to their potential for low-cost manufacturing but their efficiency is still less than required for commercial application as lightweight/flexible modules. Forming a dipole layer at the electron-collecting interface has been suggested as one of the more attractive approaches for efficiency enhancement. However, only a few dipole layer material types have been reported so far, including only one non-ionic (charge neutral) polymer. Here we show that a further neutral polymer, namely poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOz) can be successfully used as a dipole layer. Inclusion of a PEOz layer, in particular with a nanodot morphology, increases the effective work function at the electron-collecting interface within inverted solar cells and thermal annealing of PEOz layer leads to a state-of-the-art 10.74% efficiency for single-stack bulk heterojunction blend structures comprising poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-alt-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate] as donor and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester as acceptor.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inverted polymer fullerene solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency with poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) nanodots on electron-collecting buffer layers

et al. 2015

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“…Nonetheless, it could be also explained by the different dewetting dynamics leading, for instance, to changes in the final equilibrium shapes as recently suggested. 26,31 We also note that for these small values of h 0 , we do not find evidence of bimodal size distribution of b. 24,25 From TEM measurements (see Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 50%

“…24,25 From TEM measurements (see Fig. 1(e)) we deduce a contact angle θ ∼ 63 degrees and a vertical aspect ratio η ∼ 0.4 (η = H/b, where H is the particle height), 26,31 which is rather larger with respect to that found in c-Si islands where η ∼ 0.2. 9 Regarding the crystalline structure of the dewetted islands we observe multiple stacking faults (twins) of large crystalline domains featuring differently oriented axes (see the bottom insets of Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 77%

Fabrication of poly-crystalline Si-based Mie resonators via amorphous Si on SiO₂dewetting

et al. 2016

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We report the fabrication of Si-based dielectric Mie resonators via a low cost process based on solid-state dewetting of ultra-thin amorphous Si on SiO2. We investigate the dewetting dynamics of a few nanometer sized layers annealed at high temperature to form submicrometric Si-particles. Morphological and structural characterization reveal the polycrystalline nature of the semiconductor matrix as well as rather irregular morphologies of the dewetted islands. Optical dark field imaging and spectroscopy measurements of the single islands reveal pronounced resonant scattering at visible frequencies. The linewidth of the low-order modes can be ∼20 nm in full width at half maximum, leading to a quality factor Q exceeding 25. These values reach the state-of-the-art ones obtained for monocrystalline Mie resonators. The simplicity of the dewetting process and its cost-effectiveness opens the route to exploiting it over large scales for applications in silicon-based photonics.

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“…Si nanodot structures embedded in a SiO 2 matrix (Si/SiO 2 nanodots) are currently of high interest for applications in 3rd generation solar cells 1–5. Such low dimensional structures exhibit the potential to exceed the Shockley–Queisser efficiency limit of 32.7% for single‐junction solar cells 6 by exploiting quantum confinement effects (QCE) 7.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural properties of Si/SiO₂ nanostructures grown by decomposition of substoichiometric SiO_xN_y layers for photovoltaic applications

Roczen

Laades

Schade

et al. 2012

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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The structural properties of crystalline Si nanodots embedded in a SiO 2 matrix are investigated with respect to the exploitation of quantum confinement effects (QCE) 3. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra are blue-shifted relative to the Si bulk PL, which is in good agreement with theoretical QCE models. It is found that for observing the PL signal the nanodots must be covered by a SiO 2 shell to reduce charge carrier recombination via defects at the nanodot surface. This requires an [O]/[Si] ratio >0.5 for which the inter-dot distance becomes too large for charge carrier transport between the nanodots. It is concluded that a better control over the nanodot formation at high [O]/[Si] ratios has to be achieved before QCE can be successfully applied in Si solar cell devices.

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Structural investigations of silicon nanostructures grown by self-organized island formation for photovoltaic applications

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

Inverted polymer fullerene solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency with poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) nanodots on electron-collecting buffer layers

Inverted polymer fullerene solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency with poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) nanodots on electron-collecting buffer layers

Fabrication of poly-crystalline Si-based Mie resonators via amorphous Si on SiO₂dewetting

Structural properties of Si/SiO₂ nanostructures grown by decomposition of substoichiometric SiO_xN_y layers for photovoltaic applications

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Structural investigations of silicon nanostructures grown by self-organized island formation for photovoltaic applications

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

Inverted polymer fullerene solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency with poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) nanodots on electron-collecting buffer layers

Inverted polymer fullerene solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency with poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) nanodots on electron-collecting buffer layers

Fabrication of poly-crystalline Si-based Mie resonators via amorphous Si on SiO2dewetting

Structural properties of Si/SiO2 nanostructures grown by decomposition of substoichiometric SiOxNy layers for photovoltaic applications

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Fabrication of poly-crystalline Si-based Mie resonators via amorphous Si on SiO₂dewetting

Structural properties of Si/SiO₂ nanostructures grown by decomposition of substoichiometric SiO_xN_y layers for photovoltaic applications