B.J. García

High Efficiency Si Solar Cells Characterization Using Impedance Spectroscopy Analysis

Impedance Spectroscopy has been used to analyse commercial Si photovoltaic solar cells, to obtain information about minority carrier lifetimes, series and parallel resistances, and acceptor impurity densities. Silicon solar cells efficiencies ranging between 17 and 18% from different manufacturers have been analysed obtaining differences mainly in the electron lifetimes and doping densities. Relations between these parameters and DC curves are discussed.

Surface optical phonons in GaAs nanowires grown by Ga-assisted chemical beam epitaxy

Surface optical (SO) phonons were studied by Raman spectroscopy in GaAs nanowires (NWs) grown by Ga-assisted chemical beam epitaxy on oxidized Si(111) substrates. NW diameters and lengths ranging between 40 and 65 nm and between 0.3 and 1.3 μm, respectively, were observed under different growth conditions. The analysis of the Raman peak shape associated to either longitudinal or surface optical modes gave important information about the crystal quality of grown NWs. Phonon confinement model was used to calculate the density of defects as a function of the NW diameter resulting in values between 0.02 and 0.03 defects/nm, indicating the high uniformity obtained on NWs cross section size during growth. SO mode shows frequency downshifting as NW diameter decreases, this shift being sensitive to NW sidewall oxidation. The wavevector necessary to activate SO phonon was used to estimate the NW facet roughness responsible for SO shift.

Photodetector fabrication by dielectrophoretic assembly of GaAs nanowires grown by a two-steps method

GaAs nanowires (NWs) are promising advanced materials for the development of high performance photodetectors in the visible and infrared range. In this work, we optimize the epitaxial growth of GaAs NWs compared to conventional procedures, by introducing a novel two-steps growth method that exhibits an improvement of the resulting NW aspectratio and an enhancement of the NW growth rate. Moreover, we investigate the contactless manipulation of NWs using non-uniform electric fields to assemble a single GaAs NW on conductive electrodes, resulting in assembly yields above 90%/site and an alignment yields of around 95%. The electrical characteristics of the dielectrophoretic contact formed between the NW and the electrode have been measured, observing that the use of n-type Al-doped ZnO (AZO) as electrode material for NW alignment produces Schottky barrier contacts with the GaAs NW body. Moreover, our results show the fast fabrication of diodes with rectifying characteristics due to the formation of a low-resistance contact between the Ga catalytic droplet at the tip of the NW and the AZO electrode. The current-voltage measurements of a single GaAs NW diode under different illumination conditions show a strong light responsivity of the forward bias characteristic mainly produced by a change on the series resistance.

A novel growth method to improve the quality of GaAs nanowires grown by Ga-assisted chemical beam epitaxy

The successful synthesis of high crystalline quality and high aspect ratio GaAs nanowires (NWs) with a uniform diameter is needed to develop advanced applications beyond the limits established by thin film and bulk material properties. Vertically aligned GaAs NWs have been extensively grown by Ga-assisted vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism on Si(111) substrates, and they have been used as building blocks in photovoltaics, optoelectronics, electronics, and so forth. However, the nucleation of parasitic species such as traces and nanocrystals on the Si substrate surface during the NW growth could affect significantly the controlled nucleation of those NWs, and therefore the resulting performance of NW-based devices. Preventing the nucleation of parasitic species on the Si substrate is a matter of interest, because they could act as traps for gaseous precursors and/or chemical elements during VLS growth, drastically reducing the maximum length of grown NWs, affecting their morphology and structure, and reducing the NW density along the Si substrate surface. This work presents a novel and easy to develop growth method (i.e., without using advanced nanolithography techniques) to prevent the nucleation of parasitic species, while preserving the quality of GaAs NWs even for long duration growths. GaAs NWs are grown by Ga-assisted chemical beam epitaxy on oxidized Si(111) substrates using triethylgallium and tertiarybutylarsine precursors by a two-step-based growth method presented here; this method includes a growth interruption for an oxidation on air between both steps of growth, reducing the nucleation of parasitic crystals on the thicker SiO x capping layer during the second and longer growth step. VLS conditions are preserved overtime, resulting in a stable NW growth rate of around 6 μm/h for growth times up to 1 h. Resulting GaAs NWs have a high aspect ratio of 85 and average radius of 35 nm. We also report on the existence of characteristic reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns associated with the epitaxial growth of GaAs NWs on Si(111) substrates, which have been analyzed and compared to the morphological characterization of GaAs NWs grown for different times under different conditions.

On the growth mechanisms of GaAs nanowires by Ga-assisted chemical beam epitaxy

GaAs nanowires (NWs) growth kinetics by Ga-assisted chemical beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates is studied as a function of the initial Ga catalyst dimensions and growth parameters such as substrate temperature and V/III flux ratio. The preparation method for substrates is optimized in order to obtain a surface oxide with a thickness around 0.5 nm, allowing the decomposition of Ga metalorganic precursor and the preferential growth of GaAs NWs at the oxide pinholes. The successful self-formation of Ga droplets over the slightly oxidized Si surface has been observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), whose initial size is demonstrated to affect both the NW growth rate and the resultant NW aspect ratio. NW morphology is thoroughly analyzed by SEM, showing a self-organized array of vertically aligned match-shaped GaAs NWs with a hexagonal footprint. In addition, the crystalline structure of NWs is monitored in-situ by reflection high-energy diffraction (RHEED), showing pure zincblende phase along the whole NW stem.

Fabrication and Characterization of Multiband Solar Cells Based on Highly Mismatched Alloys

Multiband solar cells are one type of third generation photovoltaic devices in which an increase of the power conversion efficiency is achieved through the absorption of low energy photons while preserving a large band gap that determines the open circuit voltage. The ability to absorb photons from different parts of the solar spectrum originates from the presence of an intermediate energy band located within the band gap of the material. This intermediate band, acting as a stepping stone allows the absorption of low energy photons to transfer electrons from the valence band to the conduction band by a sequential two photons absorption process. It has been demonstrated that highly mismatched alloys offer a potential to be used as a model material system for practical realization of multiband solar cells. Dilute nitride GaAs1-xNx highly mismatched alloy with low mole fraction of N is a prototypical multiband semiconductor with a well-defined intermediate band. Currently, we are using chemical beam epitaxy to synthesize dilute nitride highly mismatched alloys. The materials are characterized by a variety of structural and optical methods to optimize their properties for multiband photovoltaic devices.

Sn doped GaAs by CBE using tetramethyltin

Growth and characterization of tin doped GaAs(100) layers using chemical beam epitaxy are described in this work. The resistivity, type of carriers, as well as their net concentrations and mobilities were obtained by Hall Effect measurements. Layers with electron concentrations between 7.0×1016 and 1.6×1019 cm3 were obtained, while the measured room temperature mobilities were in the range 860–2700 cm2/Vs. Photoluminescence spectra show the presence of a donor related transition, whose intensity increases with the sample doping. Acceptor related transitions, different than the residual carbon doping, were not observed, suggesting that Sn incorporates as a donor with a small compensation ratio.