A diamond-based photovoltaic cell

Abstract

A photovoltaic cell based on a p–i synthetic-diamond structure was investigated. This bilayer structure consists of a substrate, which was grown by the high pressure–high temperature (НРНТ) method at an increased pressure and elevated temperature of highly-boron-doped p-type diamond, and on which a IIа-type film with a thickness of ~50 μm was deposited using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. Solid contacts were applied to the substrate, while the contacts that were applied to the CVD film were both solid and semitransparent. The current–voltage characteristics of photovoltaic cells for α, X-ray, and UV radiations for solid and semitransparent contacts were investigated. The obtained experimental data were used to evaluate the upper bound of the energy-conversion efficiency for all these radiations, which amounted to 4.5–14%.