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Evidence of Sequential Carrier Escape in III-V p-i-n Multi-Quantum Well Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Andenet Alemu ,
Jose A. H. Coaquira  and
Alex Freundlich
Andenet Alemu
Affiliation:
aalemu@uh.edu, University of Houston, Center for Advanced Materials, 724 Science & Research Building 1, Houston, TX, 77204-5002, United States, 7137433621, 7137477724
Jose A. H. Coaquira
Affiliation:
zecalia@hotmail.com, University of Houston, Photovoltaics and Nanostructures Laboratories, Center for Advanced Materials, 724 Science & Research Building 1, Houston, TX, 77204-5002, United States
Alex Freundlich
Affiliation:
afreundlich@uh.edu, University of Houston, Photovoltaics and Nanostructures Laboratories, Center for Advanced Materials, 724 Science & Research Building 1, Houston, TX, 77204-5002, United States
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Abstract

Several InAsP/InP p-i-n Multi-Quantum Well (MQW) solar cells, only differing by their MQW region composition and geometry, were investigated. For each sample, the Arrhenius plot of the temperature related variation of the photoluminescence intensity was used to deduce the radiative recombination activation energy. The electron and holes confinement energy levels in the quantum wells and the associated effective potential barriers seen by each carrier were theoretically calculated. Carrier escape times were also estimated for each carrier. The fastest escaping carrier is found to display an effective potential energy barrier equal to the experimentally determined photoluminescence activation energy. This not only shows that the temperature related radiative recombination extinction process is driven by the carrier escape mechanism but also that the carriers escape process is sequential. Moreover, a discrepancy in device performance is directly correlated to the nature of the fastest escaping carrier.

Keywords

photovoltaicnanostructureIII-V
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1031: Symposium H – Nanostructured Solar Cells , 2007 , 1031-H13-03
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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