Observation of the photovoltaics effect from the solar cells using silicon quantum dots superlattice as a light absorption layer

We have successfully prepared silicon quantum dots / amorphous silicon carbide multilayers by thermal annealing of stoichiometric hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) / silicon rich hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-Si1+xC) multilayers for thin-film solar cell applications. By hydrogen plasma treatment (HPT), hydrogen was almost uniformly incorporated into Si-QDSL and the defect density in the Si-QDSL was successfully reduced from 1.83×10¹⁹ to 6.56×10¹⁷ cm⁻³ after HPT for 2 hours. We have prepared the first solar cell using Si-QDSL as a light absorption layer. From the results of the quantum efficiency and the photoluminescence measurement, the photovoltaic effect from Si-QDSL was confirmed.