title: Assessing individual radial junction solar cells over millions on VLS-grown silicon nanowires.
abstract: Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) grown on low-cost substrates provide an ideal framework for the monolithic fabrication of radial junction photovoltaics. However, the quality of junction formation over a random matrix of SiNWs, fabricated via a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism, has never been assessed in a realistic context. To address this, we probe the current response of individual radial junction solar cells under electron-beam and optical-beam excitations. Excellent current generation from the radial junction units, compared to their planar counterparts, has been recorded, indicating a high junction quality and effective doping in the ultra-thin SiNWs with diameters thinner than 20 nm. Interestingly, we found that the formation of radial junctions by plasma deposition can be quite robust against geometrical disorder and even the crossings of neighboring cell units. These results provide a strong support to the feasibility of building high-quality radial junction solar cells over high-throughput VLS-grown SiNWs on low-cost substrates.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces (LPICM), CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau, France. Linwei.yu@polytechnique.edu
authors.forename: Linwei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rigutti
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tchernycheva
authors.forename: Soumyadeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Misra
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Foldyna
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Picardi
authors.forename: Pere
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roca i Cabarrocas