Steady-state carrier escape from single quantum wells

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/3.234396· OSTI ID:5615048

Nelson, J; Paxman, M; Barnham, W J ^[1]; Roberts, J S; Button, C ^[2]

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1. Blackett Lab., London (United Kingdom)
2. Univ. of Sheffield, Sheffield (United Kingdom)

The mechanics for carrier escape from quantum wells (QW's) are of fundamental importance to the understanding of high-speed high-power devices such as SEED's or devices which demand high carrier escape efficiencies, such as QW solar cells. Here, the authors have studied the variation in dc photocurrent with bias and temperature from GaAs-Al[sub x]Ga[sub 1[minus]x]As single quantum wells embedded in p-i-n diodes, and they find that the observed temperature response shows Arrhenius behavior with a field-dependent activation energy close to the hole well depth. This can be accounted for using a model based on the competition between photocarrier escape and recombination. Using reasonable values for the diode's built-in voltage and the quantum-well recombination lifetime they achieve good quantitative agreement between theory and experiment if they assume that the recombination rate is governed by the fastest escaping carriers which are light holes in their devices.

• OSTI ID: 5615048
• Journal Information: IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Vol. 29:6; ISSN 0018-9197; ISSN IEJQA7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501 -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
42 ENGINEERING
426000* -- Engineering-- Components
Electron Devices & Circuits-- (1990-)
ALUMINIUM ARSENIDES
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ARRHENIUS EQUATION
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
CHARGE CARRIERS
DATA
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
EMISSION
EQUATIONS
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
JUNCTIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUMERICAL DATA
P-N JUNCTIONS
PHOTODIODES
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PNICTIDES
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
THERMIONIC EMISSION