Variable temperature carrier dynamics in bulk (In)GaAsNSb materials grown by MOVPE for multi-junction solar cells

Yongkun Sin, Zachary Lingley, Stephen Lalumondiere, Nathan Wells, William Lotshaw, Steven C. Moss, Tae Wan Kim, Luke J. Mawst, Thomas F. Kuech

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

III-V multi-junction solar cells are typically based on a triple-junction design that consists of an InGaP top junction, a GaAs middle junction, and a bottom junction that employs a 1 - 1.25 eV material grown on GaAs substrates. The most promising 1 - 1.25 eV material that is currently under extensive investigation is bulk dilute nitride such as (In)GaAsNSb lattice matched to GaAs substrates. The approach utilizing dilute nitrides has a great potential to achieve high performance triple-junction solar cells as recently demonstrated by Wiemer, et al., who achieved a record efficiency of 43.5% from multi-junction solar cells including MBE-grown dilute nitride materials [1]. Although MOVPE is a preferred technique over MBE for III-V multi-junction solar cell manufacturing, MOVPEgrown dilute nitride research is at its infancy compared to MBE-grown dilute nitride. In particular, carrier dynamics studies are indispensible in the optimization of MOVPE materials growth parameters to obtain improved solar cell performance. For the present study, we employed time-resolved photoluminescence (TR-PL) techniques to study carrier dynamics in MOVPE-grown bulk dilute nitride InGaAsN materials (Eg = 1 - 1.25 eV at RT) lattice matched to GaAs substrates. In contrast to our earlier samples that showed high background C doping densities, our current samples grown using different metalorganic precursors at higher growth temperatures showed a significantly reduced background doping density of ~ 1017 /cm 3. We studied carrier dynamics in (In)GaAsNSb double heterostructures (DH) with different N compositions at room temperature. Post-growth annealing yielded significant improvements in carrier lifetimes of (In)GaAsNSb double heterostructure (DH) samples. Carrier dynamics at various temperatures between 10 K and RT were also studied from (In)GaAsNSb DH samples including those samples grown on different orientation substrates.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPhysics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices III
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Print)9780819498946
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
EventPhysics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices III - San Francisco, CA, United States
Duration: 3 Feb 20146 Feb 2014

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume8981
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Conference

ConferencePhysics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices III
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco, CA
Period3/02/146/02/14

Keywords

  • Carrier dynamics
  • Defects
  • Dilute nitride
  • Movpe
  • Multi-junction solar cell
  • Tr-pl
  • Traps

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