Selective Area Growth of GaAs on Si Patterned Using Nanoimprint Lithography
Abstract
Heteroepitaxial selective area growth (SAG) of GaAs on patterned Si substrates is a potential low-cost approach to integrate III-V and Si materials for tandem or multijunction solar cells. The use of nanoscale openings in a dielectric material can minimize nucleation-related defects and allow thinner buffer layers to be used to accommodate lattice mismatch between Si and an epitaxial III-V layer. For photovoltaic applications, the cost of patterning and growth, as well as the impact on the performance of the Si bottom cell must be considered. We present preliminary results on the use of soft nanoimprint lithography (SNIL) to create patterned nucleation templates for the heteroepitaxial SAG of GaAs on Si. We demonstrate that SNIL patterning of passivating layers on the Si substrate improves measured minority carrier properties relative to unprotected Si. Cost modeling of the SNIL process shows that adding a patterning step only adds a minor contribution to the overall cost of a tandem III-V/Si solar cell, and can enable significant savings if it enables thinner buffer layers.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1343866
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP-5J00-66502
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Presented at the 2016 IEEE 43rd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 5-10 June 2016, Portland, Oregon
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; GaAs; Si heteroepitaxy; MOCVD; nanoimprint lithography
Citation Formats
Warren, Emily L., Makoutz, Emily A., Horowitz, Kelsey A. W., Dameron, Arrelaine, Norman, Andrew G., Stradins, Paul, Zimmerman, Jeramy D., and Tamboli, Adele C. Selective Area Growth of GaAs on Si Patterned Using Nanoimprint Lithography. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1109/PVSC.2016.7749963.
Warren, Emily L., Makoutz, Emily A., Horowitz, Kelsey A. W., Dameron, Arrelaine, Norman, Andrew G., Stradins, Paul, Zimmerman, Jeramy D., & Tamboli, Adele C. Selective Area Growth of GaAs on Si Patterned Using Nanoimprint Lithography. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2016.7749963
Warren, Emily L., Makoutz, Emily A., Horowitz, Kelsey A. W., Dameron, Arrelaine, Norman, Andrew G., Stradins, Paul, Zimmerman, Jeramy D., and Tamboli, Adele C. 2016.
"Selective Area Growth of GaAs on Si Patterned Using Nanoimprint Lithography". United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2016.7749963.
@article{osti_1343866,
title = {Selective Area Growth of GaAs on Si Patterned Using Nanoimprint Lithography},
author = {Warren, Emily L. and Makoutz, Emily A. and Horowitz, Kelsey A. W. and Dameron, Arrelaine and Norman, Andrew G. and Stradins, Paul and Zimmerman, Jeramy D. and Tamboli, Adele C.},
abstractNote = {Heteroepitaxial selective area growth (SAG) of GaAs on patterned Si substrates is a potential low-cost approach to integrate III-V and Si materials for tandem or multijunction solar cells. The use of nanoscale openings in a dielectric material can minimize nucleation-related defects and allow thinner buffer layers to be used to accommodate lattice mismatch between Si and an epitaxial III-V layer. For photovoltaic applications, the cost of patterning and growth, as well as the impact on the performance of the Si bottom cell must be considered. We present preliminary results on the use of soft nanoimprint lithography (SNIL) to create patterned nucleation templates for the heteroepitaxial SAG of GaAs on Si. We demonstrate that SNIL patterning of passivating layers on the Si substrate improves measured minority carrier properties relative to unprotected Si. Cost modeling of the SNIL process shows that adding a patterning step only adds a minor contribution to the overall cost of a tandem III-V/Si solar cell, and can enable significant savings if it enables thinner buffer layers.},
doi = {10.1109/PVSC.2016.7749963},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1343866},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Mon Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}