Premium
Growth of crystalline semiconductor structures on amorphous substrates for photovoltaic applications
Author(s) -
Boeck T.,
Ringleb F.,
Bansen R.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
crystal research and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.377
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1521-4079
pISSN - 0232-1300
DOI - 10.1002/crat.201600239
Subject(s) - amorphous solid , materials science , nanocrystalline material , epitaxy , photovoltaics , cadmium telluride photovoltaics , semiconductor , indium , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , solar cell , photovoltaic system , layer (electronics) , crystallography , chemistry , ecology , biology
The growth of defined crystalline structures on amorphous materials is an almost generally difficult task. Due to the lack of a crystallographic lattice, no epitaxial intergrowth can be realized. However, for many applications the growth of crystalline layers or microstructures on such substrates, or on amorphous or nanocrystalline intermediate layers is required. For large area applications such as solar cells, glass is a particularly favored material. The article presents two studies from the field of photovoltaics. Both are characterized by a locally selective seeding: the growth of crystalline Si on glass by steady‐state solution growth on a partially crystallized Si seed layer, and the preparation of CuInSe 2 absorber islands for micro concentrator solar cells from spatially confined metallic indium droplets.