Intermediate band solar cells (IBSCs) fabricated to date from In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dot arrays (QD-IBSC) exhibit a quantum efficiency (QE) that extends to below bandgap energies. However, the production of sub-bandgap photocurrent relies often on the thermal and/or tunneling escape of carriers from the QDs, which is incompatible with preservation of the output voltage. In this work, we test the effectiveness of introducing a thick GaAs spacer in addition to an InAlGaAs strain relief layer (SRL) over the QDs to reduce carrier escape. From an analysis of the QE at different temperatures, it is concluded that escape via tunneling can be completely blocked under short-circuit conditions, and that carriers confined in QDs with an InAlGaAs SRL exhibit a thermal escape activation energy over 100 meV larger than in the case of InAs QDs capped only with GaAs.
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15 September 2010
Research Article|
September 23 2010
Reducing carrier escape in the InAs/GaAs quantum dot intermediate band solar cell
E. Antolín;
E. Antolín
a)
1Instituto de Energía Solar, E.T.S.I. Telecomunicación,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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A. Martí;
A. Martí
1Instituto de Energía Solar, E.T.S.I. Telecomunicación,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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C. D. Farmer;
C. D. Farmer
2Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering,
University of Glasgow
, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
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P. G. Linares;
P. G. Linares
1Instituto de Energía Solar, E.T.S.I. Telecomunicación,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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E. Hernández;
E. Hernández
1Instituto de Energía Solar, E.T.S.I. Telecomunicación,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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A. M. Sánchez;
A. M. Sánchez
3Dpto. de Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias,
Universidad de Cádiz
, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
4Department of Physics,
University of Warwick
, Warwick CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
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T. Ben;
T. Ben
3Dpto. de Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias,
Universidad de Cádiz
, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
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S. I. Molina;
S. I. Molina
3Dpto. de Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias,
Universidad de Cádiz
, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
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C. R. Stanley;
C. R. Stanley
2Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering,
University of Glasgow
, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
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A. Luque
A. Luque
1Instituto de Energía Solar, E.T.S.I. Telecomunicación,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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a)
Electronic mail: elisa@ies-def.upm.es.
J. Appl. Phys. 108, 064513 (2010)
Article history
Received:
February 23 2010
Accepted:
July 01 2010
Citation
E. Antolín, A. Martí, C. D. Farmer, P. G. Linares, E. Hernández, A. M. Sánchez, T. Ben, S. I. Molina, C. R. Stanley, A. Luque; Reducing carrier escape in the InAs/GaAs quantum dot intermediate band solar cell. J. Appl. Phys. 15 September 2010; 108 (6): 064513. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3468520
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