Abstract
Silicon nanocrystal quantum dots in a dielectric matrix form a material with higher band gap than silicon, but still compatible with silicon technology. So far, devices using silicon nanocrystals have been realized either on silicon wafers, or using in-situ doping in the superlattice deposition which may hinder the nanocrystal formation. In this paper, a vertical PIN device is presented which allows to investigated the electrical and photovoltaic properties of nanocrystal quantum dot layers. The device structure circumvents any influence of a substrate wafer or dopants and provides full flexibility in the material choice of both, i.e. electron and hole, contacts. Furthermore, not-high-temperature stable contact materials can be applied. Devices have been realized using SiC/Si nanocrystal multilayers as the i-region and doped a-Si xC 1-x:H layers as electron and hole contacts. First devices show open-circuit voltage of up to 400mV.