InAs nanostructures for solar cell: Improved efficiency by submonolayer quantum dot

Abstract

The effect of different quantum structures in the intrinsic region of a pin junction solar cell (SC) on the optical and electrical properties have been investigated. SCs with different quantum structures, such as, Stranski-Krastanov (SK) quantum dots (QDs), quantum well (QW), submonolayer (SML) QDs (0.25 ML, 0.5 ML and 0.75 ML) and a quasi-monolayer (1 ML) InAs stack, were fabricated while keeping the total InAs content the same in all SCs. In a comparison of performance, the SML-QD sample delivered superior performance (Almost 23% relative efficiency improvement compared to reference SC) compared to the other devices. Moreover, different coverages of SML InAs have been tested for optimum performance improvement of solar cell and near 0.25 ML InAs deposition was found best for solar cell application. These findings present a promising alternative to SK-QDs as intermediate band in photovoltaic applications.