Indium-tin-oxide/GaAs Schottky barrier solar cells with embedded InAs quantum dots

• Indium-tin-oxide (ITO)/GaAs Schottky barrier solar cell (SBSC) was fabricated.
• Barrier height of ITO/GaAs SBSC was enhanced by embedding InAs quantum dots (QDs).
• The open-circuit voltage of SBSC with InAs QDs (QD-SBSC) was increased by 113 mV.
• Photo current of QD-SBSC was increased due to additional current generation at QDs.

We report the electrical and optical characteristics of indium-tin-oxide (ITO)/GaAs Schottky barrier solar cells (SBSCs) with embedded InAs quantum dots (QDs). Twenty layers of self-assembled InAs QDs are inserted into the SBSCs so as to increase the potential barrier height at the ITO/GaAs junctions and to create additional photo-generated electrons in the quantum confined states of the QDs. After analyzing the current density–voltage characteristics, the photoluminescence, and the external quantum efficiency of the fabricated SBSCs, it was found that the incorporation of InAs QDs into the ITO/GaAs SBSCs results in an increase of both of the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current density compared to SBSCs without InAs QDs.