Bandgap tuning of silicon nanowire arrays for application to all-silicon tandem solar cells

To reduce the diameter of silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays for bandgap tuning, a diameter reduction (DR) process incorporating H3PO4 oxidation and HF etching was conducted for SiNW arrays with a diameter of 30 nm and a length of 15 mu m. After the DR process, the diameter of SiNW arrays around the tip was successfully reduced to below 10 nm. From the cathode luminescence measurement, the bandgap around the tip of SiNW arrays was estimated to be 1.2 eV, suggesting that bandgap widening occurred owing to the quantum size effect. (C) 2017 The Japan Society of Applied Physics