Growth and properties of AIIIBV QD structures for intermediate band solar cells

• Structures suitable for IB solar cells with InAs QDs were prepared by MOVPE.
• Efficient PC generation above 1200 nm (below Si band gap) was demonstrated.
• Fast spatial carrier separation was achieved on the type II InAs/GaAsSb interface.
• Valence band triangular barrier improved the carrier separation and 3x increased PC.

Intermediate band solar cells theoretically offer a promising way to significantly increase cell efficiency compared to a single-junction solar cell. We focused on the preparation of antimony containing materials as a covering of QD layers. In this article we discuss how the concentration gradient of GaAsSb strain reducing layers can influence the resulting optical properties of the solar cell structures. The main principle of the structure is that the absorption of light is achieved at QD excited states with a better overlap of electron and hole wave functions. With fast relaxation of carriers to the ground state, the electrons and holes are quickly spatially separated. Two different composition gradients of GaAsSb SRL were used for the solar cell structure. One or five quantum dot stacks were compared. The maximal PC increased approximately 17 times with increasing number of QD layers from 1 to 5. The highest PC was achieved for sample I5A with increasing concentration of Sb in the SRL, especially in the QD absorption region. The possible explanation is a better carrier separation in this type of structure suppressing the radiative recombination rate in QDs. These results suggest a high application potential of this structure for photovoltaics.