Fabrication of ZnInON/ZnO multi-quantum well solar cells

•We fabricated solar cells with ZnInON MQWs in the intrinsic region of pin structure.•J–V characteristics were measured under green laser and solar simulator light.•The efficiency is enhanced by superimposing green laser.•The long carrier lifetime contributes to carrier extraction from the well layers.

We report on fabrication and photovoltaic characteristics of solar cells with ZnInON/ZnO multi-quantum wells (MQWs) in the intrinsic layer of p-i-n structure by RF magnetron sputtering. We employed two kinds of p layers: one is p-GaN and the other is p-Si. Under solar simulator light, the short-circuit current (Jsc) and the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of the solar cells on p-GaN templates are 1.9 μA/cm2 and 0.16 V, whereas Jsc and Voc are enhanced to 2.5 μA/cm2 and 0.19 V under simultaneous irradiation of green laser light (532 nm) and the solar simulator light. Solar cells on p-Si substrates do not show such enhancement. A possible origin of the enhancement is a large piezoelectric field generated in strained ZnInON wells coherently grown on p-GaN template.