Growth of InN and InGaN on Si substrate for solar cell applications

Abstract

In this paper InN and InGaN films were grown on Si substrates by RF-MBE. Single crystalline InN films were realized on Si by performing brief substrate nitridation for 3 min. The substrate was effective for the growth of InGaN. The peak in PL spectra at 77K for all InN films appeared at only approximately 0.8 eV. We obtained rectifying characteristics in n-InN/P-Si heterostructure. Thus, the possibility as new harmless solar cell application of nitride semiconductors was experimentally demonstrated for the first time.