Ge-Based Photovoltaic Laser-Power Converters

Ge-based photovoltaic laser-power converters (LPCs) for wireless IR energy delivery approach with a wavelength of lambda = 1550 nm are studied and developed. It is shown that the doping by diffusion from the gas phase with zinc gives rise to a notable increase in photosensitivity compared with the doping with diborane, phosphine, or antimony (including for two-stage diffusion technology). Four designs and areas of converters are fabricated and investigated under Xe flash lamp, defocused and focused laser beams. For LPCs with an area of 6.25 mm(2), a monochromatic efficiency of similar to 20% (0.2 W) is obtained at uniform irradiation.