US Patent:
20120006390, Jan 12, 2012
Inventors:
Yijie Huo - Mountain View CA, US
Anjia Gu - Menlo Park CA, US
Shu Hu - Stanford CA, US
Paul C. Mclntyre - Sunnyvale CA, US
International Classification:
H01L 31/0352
H01L 31/18
US Classification:
136255, 438 57, 257 14, 257E31001, 257E31032
Abstract:
Solar cells or photodetectors having one or more single-crystal shell layers conformally deposited on Ge nano-wires are provided. This approach can provide higher efficiency and/or reduced material cost compared to conventional planar approaches for multi-junction solar cells having the same thickness of active solar absorption materials. Shell layers deposited on the Ge nano-wires and including pn junctions can be grown such that they end up with single-crystal faceted tips, which can significantly improve optical collection efficiency and can improve the electron collection efficiency because of the high crystal quality.
