An optoelectronic semiconductor component is disclosed. In an embodiment an optoelectronic semiconductor component includes a front side, a first diode and a second diode arranged downstream of one another in a direction away from the front side and electrically connected in series such that the first diode is located closer to the front side than the second diode and an electrical tunnel contact between the first and the second diodes, wherein the second diode comprises a diode layer of Si.sub.nGe.sub.1-n, where 0n1, wherein the first diode comprises a first partial layer of SiGeC, a second partial layer of SiGe and a third partial layer of SiGeC, and wherein the partial layers follow one another directly in the direction away from the front side according to their numbering such that the first and third partial layers are of (Si.sub.yGe.sub.1-y).sub.1-xC.sub.x, whereas 0.05x0.5 or 0.25x0.75, and whereas 0y1, and the second partial layer is of SizGe1-z, whereas 0z1.

A detector for optical detection of at least one object, the detector including: at least one optical sensor including at least one sensor region. The optical sensor is configured to generate at least one sensor signal dependent on an illumination of the sensor region by an incident modulated light beam. The sensor signal is dependent on a modulation frequency of the light beam. The sensor region includes at least one capacitive device including at least two electrodes. At least one insulating layer and at least one photosensitive layer are embedded between the electrodes, wherein at least one of the electrodes is at least partially optically transparent for the light beam. The detector further includes at least one evaluation device configured to generate at least one item of information on a position of the object by evaluating the sensor signal.

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for low noise and high efficiency photoelectric amplification based on cycling excitation process (CEP). In some aspects, a device for amplifying signals of light-induced photocurrent includes an anode connected to a positive terminal of a voltage source; a disordered material layer coupled to the anode, wherein the disordered material layer is structured to have a thickness of 100 nm or less; and a cathode coupled to the disordered material layer and connected to a negative terminal of the voltage source, in which the device is operable to amplify photoexcited carriers based on photon absorption to produce an external quantum efficiency of the device that is at least 100%.

A photovoltaic device includes an electrically-conductive front contact layer; an electrically-conductive back contact layer, the back contact layer being intended to be situated further from a source of incident light than the front contact layer; and a semiconductor-based PIN junction having a substantially amorphous intrinsic silicon layer sandwiched between a P-type doped semiconductor layer and an N-type doped semiconductor layer. The layer of the PIN junction situated closest to the back contact layer is a silicon-germanium alloy layer including at least 2 mol % of germanium.

A method for manufacturing a solar cell can include forming a tunnel layer on a back surface of a semiconductor substrate; forming an amorphous silicon layer on the tunnel layer; crystallizing the amorphous silicon layer into a crystalline silicon layer; performing a diffusion process to form a doped region in the crystalline silicon layer; forming an insulating layer on the crystalline silicon layer; and forming an electrode contacting with the crystalline silicon layer through an opening of the insulating layer.

A simple and still reliable detector for an accurate determination of a position of at least one object in space is provided. The detector comprises a longitudinal optical sensor (114) having a stack of at least two individual pin diodes (130, 130) arranged between at least two electrodes (132, 132). Upon illumination of the sensor region by an incident light beam (136), a longitudinal sensor signal is generated. The longitudinal sensor signal, given the same power of illumination, is dependent on a beam cross-section of the light beam (136). The at last two individual pin diodes (130, 130) have different spectral sensitivities in order to enable the determination of a distance between the object and the detector by light beams in different spectral ranges, e.g. by light beams in the visible spectral range and in the infrared spectral range.

An optoelectronic device including a crystalline semiconductor layer based on GeSn and including a pin junction. This formed semiconductor layer includes a base portion; a single-crystal intermediate portion having an average value x.sub.pi1 of proportion of tin less than x.sub.ps1, thus forming a barrier region against charge carriers flowing in an upper portion; and the single-crystal upper portion including a homogeneous medium with a proportion of tin x.sub.ps1, and vertical structures having an average value x.sub.ps2 of proportion of tin greater than x.sub.ps1, thus forming regions for emitting or for receiving infrared radiation.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides an optical sensor, including: a substrate; an infrared ray sensing thin film transistor including a first semiconductor layer that is formed on the substrate and arranged to operate by receiving infrared light, and a bandpass filter formed on the substrate and sized and arranged to pass the infrared light; a visible ray sensing thin film transistor including a second semiconductor layer formed on the substrate and arranged to operate by receiving visible light; and a switching thin film transistor including a third semiconductor layer formed on the substrate, wherein the bandpass filter may be formed of a metal material patterned to have features, successive features spaced apart from each other by a predetermined period so as to pass the infrared light and to block the visible light.

A solar cell comprising a bulk germanium silicon growth substrate; a diffused photoactive junction in the germanium silicon substrate; and a sequence of subcells grown over the substrate, with the first grown subcell either being lattice matched or lattice mis-matched to the growth substrate.

In a photovoltaic device (1), first amorphous semiconductor portions (102n) and second amorphous semiconductor portions (102p) are provided alternately on one of faces of a semiconductor substrate (101). Each first amorphous semiconductor portion (102n) has at least one first amorphous semiconductor strip (1020n), and each second amorphous semiconductor portion (102p) has at least one second amorphous semiconductor strip (1020p). A plurality of first electrodes (103n) are provided spaced apart from each other on each first amorphous semiconductor strip (1020n), and a plurality of second electrodes (103p) are provided spaced apart from each other on each second amorphous semiconductor strip (1020p).