DIAMOND ULTRAVIOLET PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL OBTAINED BY LITHIUM AND BORON DOPING

Polycrystalline high quality freestanding 300-mu m-thick diamond films were doped by diffusion of B and Li under electric bias in order to f abricate vertical p-n junctions. Circular contacts were obtained by hi gh dose ion implantation of B and Li. The I-V characteristics were rec tifying. When illuminated by deuterium lamp, an open circuit voltage w as 2.6 eV. The shape of the I-V characteristic under illumination poin ts to the existence of shunt and series resistances. The obtained stru cture is most probably a p-n junction with bad contacts. (C) 1997 Amer ican Institute of Physics.