Absorption enhancement through Fabry-Pérot resonant modes in a 430 nm thick InGaAs/GaAsP multiple quantum wells solar cell

Journal Article · Mon Feb 23 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4913469· OSTI ID:22412677

Behaghel, B. ^[1]; Tamaki, R.; Watanabe, K.; Sodabanlu, H. ^[2]; Vandamme, N.; Dupuis, C.; Bardou, N.; Cattoni, A. ^[1]; Okada, Y. ^[3]; Sugiyama, M. ^[3]; Collin, S. ^[1]

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1. Laboratory for Photonics and Nanostructures (LPN–CNRS), Marcoussis 91460 (France)
2. Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8904 (Japan)
3. NextPV, RCAST and CNRS, The University of Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8904 (Japan)

We study light management in a 430 nm-thick GaAs p-i-n single junction solar cell with 10 pairs of InGaAs/GaAsP multiple quantum wells (MQWs). The epitaxial layer transfer on a gold mirror improves light absorption and increases the external quantum efficiency below GaAs bandgap by a factor of four through the excitation of Fabry-Perot resonances. We show a good agreement with optical simulation and achieve around 10% conversion efficiency. We demonstrate numerically that this promising result can be further improved by anti-reflection layers. This study paves the way to very thin MQWs solar cells.

• OSTI ID: 22412677
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ABSORPTION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRIC CONTACTS
EPITAXY
EXCITATION
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
GOLD
INDIUM ARSENIDES
LAYERS
MIRRORS
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
QUANTUM WELLS
REFLECTION
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SOLAR CELLS
VISIBLE RADIATION