Intermediate band solar cells. The transition metal supersaturated Silicon approach

Within the framework of the third solar cell generation some new ideas to enlarge the spectral response of the solar cells toward the infrared have been proposed. Among them the inclusion of an Intermediate Band (IB) seems to be very promising. This paper will deal with one of the ways to generate the IB namely the deep level center approach. We will discuss not only its existence but also the carriers lifetime recovery which is necessary to obtain the expected increase of the solar cell efficiency.