Effect of electric field on carrier escape mechanisms in quantum dot intermediate band solar cells

Dai, Yushuai; Polly, Stephen J.; Hellstroem, Staffan; Slocum, Michael A.; Bittner, Zachary S.; Forbes, David V.; Roland, Paul J.; Ellingson, Randy J.; Hubbard, Seth M.

doi:10.1063/1.4972958

Title: Effect of electric field on carrier escape mechanisms in quantum dot intermediate band solar cells

Journal Article · 03 January 2017 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4972958 · OSTI ID:1465129

Dai, Yushuai ^[1];

^[1]; Hellstroem, Staffan ^[2]; Slocum, Michael A. ^[1];

^[1]; Forbes, David V. ^[1]; Roland, Paul J. ^[3];

^[3];

^[1]

Rochester Inst. of Technology, Rochester, NY (United States). Nanopower Research Lab.
Rochester Inst. of Technology, Rochester, NY (United States). Nanopower Research Lab.; Finisar Corp., Sunnyvale, CA (United States)
Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States). Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC)

Carrier escape and recombination from quantum dot (QD) states reduce the probability of two-step photon absorption (TSPA) by decreasing the available carrier population in the intermediate band (IB). In order to optimize the second photon absorption for future designs of quantum dot embedded intermediate band solar cells, this study combined the results of simulations and experiments to quantify the effect of electric field on the barrier height and the carrier escape from the QDs in InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells with five-layer QD superlattices. The electric field dependent effective barrier heights for ground state electrons were calculated using eight band k·p theory at short circuit conditions. With an increase in electric field surrounding the QDs from 5 kV/cm to 50 kV/cm, the effective barrier height of the ground state electrons was reduced from 147 meV to 136 meV, respectively. Thus, the increasing electric field not only exponentially enhances the ground state electron tunneling rate (effectively zero at 5 kV/cm and 7.9 × 10⁶s^-1 at 50 kV/cm) but also doubles the thermal escape rate (2.2 × 10¹¹s^-1 at 5 kV/cm and 4.1 × 10¹¹s^-1 at 50 kV/cm). Temperature-dependent external quantum efficiency measurements were performed to verify that the increasing electric field decreases the effective barrier height. Additionally, the electric field dependent radiative lifetimes of the ground state were characterized with time-resolved photoluminescence experiments. This study showed that the increasing electric field extended the radiative recombination lifetime in the ground state of the QDs as a consequence of the reduced wave-function overlap between the electrons and holes. The balance of carrier escape and recombination determines the probability of TSPA.

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Research Organization:: Rochester Inst. of Technology, Rochester, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG36-08GO18012; DMR-0955752; NASA SAA3 844; AFRL FA9453-11-C-0253

OSTI ID:: 1465129

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 121, Issue 1; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 13 works

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Title: Effect of electric field on carrier escape mechanisms in quantum dot intermediate band solar cells

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