Fabrication and characterization of Si/ZnO branched heterojunction structures

Author

Al-Hilo, Alaa A. ; Mohammed, Muatez Z. ; Armstrong, J.C. ; Jingbiao Cui ; Tar-Pin Chen

Author_Institution

GREEN Solar cell Res. Center, Univ. of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

16-21 June 2013

Firstpage

2628

Lastpage

2632

Abstract

We have fabricated branched heterojunction structures by growing horizontal ZnO nanowires (ZnONWs) on vertical Si nanowires (SiNWs). The SiNWs were fabricated by chemical etching of Si wafers, while the ZnONWs were grown in solution by an electrochemical process. Structure and electrical properties of the branched NWs studied by SEM, XDR, and electrical measurements. The SEM images show that 3-D branched SiNWs with ZnONWs branches were successfully grown. Due to its light trapping effect this special structure may have applications in photovoltaic devices. Solar cells based on the branched structure were also fabricated and tested. We found that their cell performance depends on the length of both the SiNWs and the ZnONWs, as well as the thickness of ZnO seed layer.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; X-ray diffraction; elemental semiconductors; etching; nanofabrication; nanowires; scanning electron microscopy; semiconductor growth; semiconductor heterojunctions; silicon; solar cells; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; SEM; Si-ZnO; XRD; branched heterojunction structures; chemical etching; electrical properties; electrochemical process; horizontal zinc oxide nanowires; light trapping effect; photovoltaic devices; solar cells; vertical silicon nanowires; Current measurement; Etching; Heterojunctions; Nanowires; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon; Zinc oxide; Si nanowires; ZnO nanowires; ZnO seed layer; heterojection;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th

Conference_Location

Tampa, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2013.6745013

Filename

6745013