Design and Simulation of Si/SiC Quantum Dot Superlattice Solar Cells with Al2O3 Passivation Layer

Abstract

By simultaneously considering the enhancement of quantum confinement on the effective bandgap and minimum transition energy, the silicon (Si)! silicon carbide (SiC) quantum dot superlattice (SiC-QDSL) with aluminum oxide (A1203-QDSL) passivation layer shows the high short-circuit current (J,) of 4.77 mA/cm(2) in theoretical, which agrees with the J, of 4.75 mA/cm(2) obtained in the experiment under an AM1.5 and one sun illumination. Moreover, the reduction of efficiency in an ultra-dense QD configuration can be ameliorated by exploiting the Al2O3 passivation layer. As the result, a high conversion efficiency of 16.3% is optimized by using the QD geometry from experiment and an inter-dot spacing of 0.3 nm.