Scientists of St. Petersburg University of Electrical Technologies have devised a technology to produce a material for photovoltaics, which raises the efficiency of solar batteries.
A source in the press office of the university stated: “the efficiency of solar cells currently used has approached its theoretical limits, so all efforts are made nowadays aim to create more efficient and less expensive materials and methods”.
“The innovative technology allows to raise the efficiency of solar cells to a record level, and this technology depends on the use of silicon substrates that were formed at relatively low temperatures,” said the professor, supervising the study.
He added that the difference of this method from the previous methods lies in the fact that the growth of the nucleus layer is carried out by the deposition of the atomic layer of the chemical plasma at relatively low temperatures, followed by the later epitaxial growth based on quantum A3B5 structures using the MOCVD hydride epitaxy method.
Professor Godowskikh emphasized: “The current methods for creating photovoltaic cells require treating silicon substrates at a temperature of 900-1000 °C at the beginning of the growth stage, to get rid of the oxide and rebuild the surface, which subsequently leads to shortening their service life. As for the new method, we suggest lowering the vertical growth temperature to 600-750 °C, and then the formation of structures with the GaP nucleus layer by depositing the atomic layer of the chemical plasma at a temperature of 380 °C”.
