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Title: Luminescent coupling in planar opto-electronic devices

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4932660· OSTI ID:22492800
; ; ;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, 25 Templeton St., Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5 (Canada)
  2. Azastra Opto, Inc., Suite M50-IPF-206, 1200 Montreal Rd, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6 (Canada)

Effects of luminescent coupling are observed in monolithic 5 V, five-junction GaAs phototransducers. Power conversion efficiency was measured at 61.6% ± 3% under the continuous, monochromatic illumination for which they were designed. Modeling shows that photon recycling can account for up to 350 mV of photovoltage in these devices. Drift-diffusion based simulations including a luminescent coupling term in the continuity equation show a broadening of the internal quantum efficiency curve which agrees well with experimental measurements. Luminescent coupling is shown to expand the spectral bandwidth of the phototransducer by a factor of at least 3.5 for devices with three or more junctions, even in cases where multiple absorption/emission events are required to transfer excess carriers into the limiting junction. We present a detailed description of the novel luminescent coupling modeling technique used to predict these performance enhancements.

OSTI ID:
22492800
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 14; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English