Carrier escape mechanism dependence on barrier thickness and temperature in InGaN quantum well solar cells

Abstract

The properties of quantum well carrier escape were studied by varying barrier thicknesses in InGaN/GaN multi-quantum well solar cell devices. The dependence of the photocurrent on applied bias and temperature exhibited properties indicative of the quantum well carrier escape mechanisms of thermionic emission and tunneling, with tunneling dominating for thin barriers and high fields. Simulations using a self-consistent drift-diffusion and Schrödinger solver with analytical formulas extracted carrier escape lifetimes. By employing sufficiently thin barriers, it was found that escape lifetimes can be made small compared to recombination lifetimes, leading to high internal quantum efficiency.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 29, 2012
Source ID
10.1063/1.4765068

Entities

People

  • J. R. Lang
  • James S. Speck
  • N. G. Young
  • R. M. Farrell
  • Y.-r. Wu

Organizations

  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • National Science Foundation
  • National Science and Technology Council
  • United States Department of Energy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Semiconductor Device Technology
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.

Technology Areas

  • Quantum Computing