Material quality frontiers of MOVPE grown AlGaAs for minority carrier devices

In this study, secondary ion mass spectroscopy of oxygen, deep level transient spectroscopy and power dependent relative photoluminescence are compared regarding their ability to resolve differences in AlxGa1−xAs material quality. AlxGa1−xAs samples grown with two different trimethylaluminum sources showing low and high levels of oxygen contamination are compared. As tested in the growth of minority carrier devices, i.e. AlxGa1−xAs solar cells, the two precursors clearly lead to different device characteristics. It is shown that secondary ion mass spectroscopy could not resolve the difference in oxygen concentration, whereas deep level transient spectroscopy and photoluminescence based measurements indicate the influence of the precursor oxygen level on the material quality.