Si3AlP: a new promising material for solar cell absorber

First-principles calculations were performed to study the structural and optoelectronic properties of the newly synthesized nonisovalent and lattice-matched (Si(2))(0.6)(AlP)(0.4) alloy (Watkins, T.; et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc.2011, 133, 16212). We found that the most stable structure of Si(3)AlP is a superlattice along the [111] direction with separated AlP and Si layers, which has a similar optical absorption spectrum to silicon. The ordered C1c1-Si(3)AlP is found to be the most stable one among all structures with a basic unit of one P atom surrounded by three Si atoms and one Al atom, in agreement with experimental suggestions. We predict that C1c1-Si(3)AlP has good optical properties, i.e., it has a larger fundamental band gap and a smaller direct band gap than Si; thus, it has much higher absorption in the visible light region. The calculated properties of Si(3)AlP suggest that it is a promising candidate for improving the performance of the existing Si-based solar cells. The understanding on the stability and band structure engineering obtained in this study is general and can be applied for future study of other nonisovalent and lattice-matched semiconductor alloys.