Modeling of silicon quantum dots for solar cell applications

The optical and electrical properties of silicon quantum dots are calculated using effective mass theory and tight binding method. The bandgap and intersubband gap energies as well as the tunnelling transmission probability of silicon quantum dots embedded in an amorphous silicon nitride are calculated for different Si/N ratios. Optical absorption spectra are calculated using tight binding method. Decreasing the size of the quantum dot and introducing shape anisotropy was observed to enhance the magnitude of the optical matrix element by two orders of magnitude.