Structural and optical properties of MgxCd1−xTe alloys grown on InSb (100) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy

A II-VI/Si tandem cell concept is proposed here to potentially reach greater than 30% energy conversion efficiency under one-sun condition. The required MgCdTe alloy with a bandgap of ~ 1.7 eV has been successfully grown on InSb (100) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy with excellent structural and optical qualities, confirmed by high-resolution X-ray diffraction, and temperature-dependent steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence.