1. Optical absorption and photoelectron collection properties of silicon wafers with conical quantum nanocrystals structure
- Author
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Yuriy Vashpanov and Jae-Il Jeong
- Subjects
Materials science ,Silicon ,Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors ,Band gap ,business.industry ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Conical surface ,Photoelectric effect ,Surfaces, Coatings and Films ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,Optics ,chemistry ,Quantum dot ,Electric field ,Optoelectronics ,Wafer ,Crystalline silicon ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,business - Abstract
A conical form of nano-sized quantum cluster was formed on the surface of p-type crystalline silicon [111] wafer by anode electrochemical etching in HF-based solution. The conical surface is highly effective in absorbing sunlight and transporting photoelectrons to semiconductor material. These are because each cone has a graded band gap with the energy level in the range from 1.1 to 3 eV which can be considered as consisting of quantum dots in different sizes. Since the boron concentration on the surface of each cone gradually decreases from top to bottom, a continuously varying electrical field is created along the cone height. This electric field is forcing photoelectrons generated in the cone to move rapidly to the direction perpendicular to wafer surface. Hence the drift time of photoelectrons can be less than their recombination time within the thin layer close to the bottom of the cone.
- Published
- 2010
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