4 research outputs found
Tandem Solar Cells Using GaAs Nanowires on Si: Design, Fabrication, and Observation of Voltage Addition
Multijunction solar cells provide
us a viable approach
to achieve efficiencies higher than the Shockley–Queisser limit.
Due to their unique optical, electrical, and crystallographic features,
semiconductor nanowires are good candidates to achieve monolithic
integration of solar cell materials that are not lattice-matched.
Here, we report the first realization of nanowire-on-Si tandem cells
with the observation of voltage addition of the GaAs nanowire top
cell and the Si bottom cell with an open circuit voltage of 0.956
V and an efficiency of 11.4%. Our simulation showed that the current-matching
condition plays an important role in the overall efficiency. Furthermore,
we characterized GaAs nanowire arrays grown on lattice-mismatched
Si substrates and estimated the carrier density using photoluminescence.
A low-resistance connecting junction was obtained using n<sup>+</sup>-GaAs/p<sup>+</sup>-Si heterojunction. Finally, we demonstrated tandem
solar cells based on top GaAs nanowire array solar cells grown on
bottom planar Si solar cells. The reported nanowire-on-Si tandem cell
opens up great opportunities for high-efficiency, low-cost multijunction
solar cells
Toward Optimized Light Utilization in Nanowire Arrays Using Scalable Nanosphere Lithography and Selected Area Growth
Vertically aligned, catalyst-free semiconducting nanowires
hold
great potential for photovoltaic applications, in which achieving
scalable synthesis and optimized optical absorption simultaneously
is critical. Here, we report combining nanosphere lithography (NSL)
and selected area metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (SA-MOCVD)
for the first time for scalable synthesis of vertically aligned gallium
arsenide nanowire arrays, and surprisingly, we show that such nanowire
arrays with patterning defects due to NSL can be as good as highly
ordered nanowire arrays in terms of optical absorption and reflection.
Wafer-scale patterning for nanowire synthesis was done using a polystyrene
nanosphere template as a mask. Nanowires grown from substrates patterned
by NSL show similar structural features to those patterned using electron
beam lithography (EBL). Reflection of photons from the NSL-patterned
nanowire array was used as a measure of the effect of defects present
in the structure. Experimentally, we show that GaAs nanowires as short
as 130 nm show reflection of <10% over the visible range of the
solar spectrum. Our results indicate that a highly ordered nanowire
structure is not necessary: despite the “defects” present
in NSL-patterned nanowire arrays, their optical performance is similar
to “defect-free” structures patterned by more costly,
time-consuming EBL methods. Our scalable approach for synthesis of
vertical semiconducting nanowires can have application in high-throughput
and low-cost optoelectronic devices, including solar cells
GaAs Nanowire Array Solar Cells with Axial p–i–n Junctions
Because of unique structural, optical,
and electrical properties,
solar cells based on semiconductor nanowires are a rapidly evolving
scientific enterprise. Various approaches employing III–V nanowires
have emerged, among which GaAs, especially, is under intense research
and development. Most reported GaAs nanowire solar cells form p–n
junctions in the radial direction; however, nanowires using axial
junction may enable the attainment of high open circuit voltage (<i>V</i><sub>oc</sub>) and integration into multijunction solar
cells. Here, we report GaAs nanowire solar cells with axial p–i–n
junctions that achieve 7.58% efficiency. Simulations show that axial
junctions are more tolerant to doping variation than radial junctions
and lead to higher <i>V</i><sub>oc</sub> under certain conditions.
We further study the effect of wire diameter and junction depth using
electrical characterization and cathodoluminescence. The results show
that large diameter and shallow junctions are essential for a high
extraction efficiency. Our approach opens up great opportunity for
future low-cost, high-efficiency photovoltaics
Electrical and Optical Characterization of Surface Passivation in GaAs Nanowires
We report a systematic study of carrier dynamics in Al<sub><i>x</i></sub>Ga<sub>1–<i>x</i></sub>As-passivated
GaAs nanowires. With passivation, the minority carrier diffusion length
(<i>L</i><sub>diff</sub>) increases from 30 to 180 nm, as
measured by electron beam induced current (EBIC) mapping, and the
photoluminescence (PL) lifetime increases from sub-60 ps to 1.3 ns.
A 48-fold enhancement in the continuous-wave PL intensity is observed
on the same individual nanowire with and without the Al<sub><i>x</i></sub>Ga<sub>1–<i>x</i></sub>As passivation
layer, indicating a significant reduction in surface recombination.
These results indicate that, in passivated nanowires, the minority
carrier lifetime is not limited by twin stacking faults. From the
PL lifetime and minority carrier diffusion length, we estimate the
surface recombination velocity (SRV) to range from 1.7 × 10<sup>3</sup> to 1.1 × 10<sup>4</sup> cm·s<sup>–1</sup>, and the minority carrier mobility μ is estimated to lie in
the range from 10.3 to 67.5 cm<sup>2</sup> V<sup>–1</sup> s<sup>–1</sup> for the passivated nanowires