NOVELTY - Solar cell with engineered spectral conversion elements (42) or components comprises solar cell (40) formed of first semiconductor material and having a back surface; spectral conversion element(s) formed on the back surface; and second semiconductor material formed on the back surface and surrounding and embedding the spectral conversion element.    USE - Solar cell with engineered spectral conversion components.    ADVANTAGE - The solar cell with engineered spectral conversion components is more efficient at converting solar energy, and relatively easy and inexpensive to fabricate since completed structures can be epitaxially grown in a continuous process. It can be engineered to absorb a broader spectrum of incident light. Since up-conversion material emits light in a Lambertian profile (i.e. in all directions), when the up-conversion material is surrounded by silicon (i.e. material similar to the material forming silicon solar cell), all emission will eventually reach the silicon and be converted to electrical energy. Thus, the efficiency of up-conversion material is improved, i.e. greater than 2 times the transmitted light, and the overall efficiency of the solar cell is improved.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for fabrication of solar cell with engineered spectral conversion components (42) comprising providing a single crystal silicon solar cell (40) having a back surface; depositing spectral conversion component(s) on the back surface, where conversion component includes single crystal rare earth oxide, which is crystal lattice matched to the back surface of the silicon solar cell; depositing material including silicon on the back surface to surround and embed the spectral conversion component; and positioning a back reflector on the material formed on the back surface to reflect light passing through the silicon formed on the back surface.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing is a schematic view illustrating the process of embedding a rare earth up-conversion material in a solar cell.    Solar cell (40)    Spectral conversion elements (42)