Amorphous Diamond Solar Cells with Nanodiamond Quantum Wells

Thin film solar cells have emerged in recent years, in particular, those made of amorphous silicon or CIGS (copper indium gallium sellenide). By tendon of boron doped amorphous diamond with phosphorus doped amorphous silicon, the conversion efficiency may rival that of crystalline silicon. On the other hand, the CdS top layer for CIGS is not only poisonous, but also UV degradable. Amorphous diamond coating with N doping can replace CdS to boost CIGS's efficiency also. Nanodiamond may be sputtered from diamond grit or diamond film as target. The PVD formed nanodiamond layer can be located at the interface between P and N types. In this case, the quantum well effect can allow the production of multiple electrons per incident photon. In addition, the output voltage may be increased due to the wide band gap of nanodiamond.