Epitaxially grown, relaxed Si 1 - x Ge x layers with x=<0.1 were grown on a Si (100) substrate by means of reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition at a temperature of 750 or 800 o C. The analysis carried out on the grown layers revealed a very high material quality indicated by the low density of dislocations (10 5 cm - 2 ) and the high diffusion length which was deduced from the measurements of electron beam induced current (EBIC) performed on the as-grown layers. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements showed that the threading dislocation segments do not extend inside the layer but are rather confined to the Si/SiGe interface, which results in a low density of dislocations in the material. The processed solar cells made from these SiGe layers showed a higher infrared response than those made of a corresponding Si grown and processed under similar conditions. No degradation of the solar cell performance caused by the dislocations in the SiGe layers has been observed.