The realization of crystalline silicon tandem solar cells relies on silicon nanocrystal (Si NC) quantum dots as
the absorber of the top solar cell. Quantum confinement of charge carriers within the nanocrystals permits to
achieve a band gap up to 2 eV which can be adjusted according to the size of the nanocrystals. This enables the
construction of all-crystalline Si tandem solar cells, and increases the theoretical efficiency limit from 33 % to
42.5 % due to the addition of a second band gap. In this work, the electrical and photovoltaic properties of Si
NC films are assessed and the most prominent material systems (SiO2, Si3N4, SiC) are compared. P-i-n solar
cells are presented which feature Si NC as the intrinsic absorber layer and permit to characterize quantum
confinement electrically on device level. P-i-n solar cells with Si NC in SiC in the i-region have yielded open
circuit voltages of up to 370mV.
