Distributed circuit models (DCM) divide photovoltaic devices into discrete elementary units. Each unit is assigned an equivalent circuit based on geometry and location, with circuit parameters being fit to or extrapolated from experimental results. Interconnection of these elementary units with ohmic resistors representing lateral and vertical resistances within the layers of the device forms the complete circuit model. DCMs allow grid design optimization, simulation of chromatic aberration, luminescent coupling and analysis of power losses due to regionally specific resistances, which are not possible with simple lumped models. Previous DCMs have been limited to 1-3 junction devices, using a 2D surface model, or use of a one-diode circuit model for the cell junctions. Furthermore, a DCM can be used to simulate complex multi-junction devices with non-uniform illumination, whereas in comprehensive physics-based simulators like Synopsys TCAD Sentaurus this would require vastly greater computational resources.
In this work, a parameterized 3D distributed circuit model was developed to calculate the performance of III-V solar cells and photonic power converters (PPC) with a variable number of epitaxially stacked pn junctions. We validated these calculations against published results using a similar 3D model for a 1-junction solar cell. Furthermore, experimental results from Azastra Opto’s 20-junction PPC illuminated by an 845 nm diode laser are compared. These devices are designed with many pn junctions to achieve higher voltages and to operate under non-uniform illumination profiles from a laser or LED. The effect on device performance of varying both these parameters will be discussed.
Four-junction solar cells for space and terrestrial applications require a junction with a band gap of ∼1 eV for optimal performance. InGaAsN or InGaAsN(Sb) dilute nitride junctions have been demonstrated for this purpose, but in achieving the 14 mA/cm2 short-circuit current needed to match typical GaInP and GaAs junctions, the open-circuit voltage (VOC) and fill factor of these junctions are compromised. In multijunction devices incorporating materials with short diffusion lengths, we study the use of thin junctions to minimize sensitivity to varying material quality and ensure adequate transmission into lower junctions. An n-i-p device with 0.65-μm absorber thickness has sufficient short-circuit current, however, it relies less heavily on field-aided collection than a device with a 1-μm absorber. Our standard cell fabrication process, which includes a rapid thermal anneal of the contacts, yields a significant improvement in diffusion length and device performance. By optimizing a four-junction cell around a smaller 1-sun short-circuit current of 12.5 mA/cm2, we produced an InGaAsN(Sb) junction with open-circuit voltage of 0.44 V at 1000 suns (1 sun=100 mW/cm2), diode ideality factor of 1.4, and sufficient light transmission to allow >12.5 mA/cm2 in all four subcells.
A monolithic compound semiconductor phototransducer optimized for narrow-band light sources was designed for and has achieved conversion efficiencies exceeding 50%. The III-V heterostructure was grown by MOCVD, based on the vertical stacking of a number of partially absorbing GaAs n/p junctions connected in series with tunnel junctions. The thicknesses of the p-type base layers of the diodes were engineered for optimal absorption and current matching for an optical input with wavelengths centered in the 830 nm to 850 nm range. The device architecture allows for improved open-circuit voltage in the individual base segments due to efficient carrier extraction while simultaneously maintaining a complete absorption of the input photons with no need for complicated fabrication processes or reflecting layers. Progress for device outputs achieving in excess of 12 V is reviewed in this study.
PV devices with active areas of ~3:4 mm2 were fabricated and tested with top electrodes having different emitter gridline spacings with active area shadowing values between 0% and 1.8%. As expected, the thicker n/p junctions exhibit hindered photocarrier extraction, with low fill factor (FF) values, for devices prepared with sparse gridline designs. However, this study clearly demonstrates that for thin n/p junctions photocarrier extraction can still be efficient (FF > 80%) even for devices with no gridlines, which we explain using a TCAD model. The electric field profiles of devices with and without hindered photocarrier extraction are also discussed.
A twelve-junction monolithically-integrated GaAs phototransducer device with >60% power conversion efficiency and >14 V open-circuit voltage under monochromatic illumination is presented. Drift-diffusion based simulations including a luminescent coupled generation term are used to study photon recycling and luminescent coupling between each junction. We find that luminescent coupling effectively redistributes any excess generated photocurrent between all junctions leading to reduced wavelength sensitivity. This broadened response is consistent with experimental measurements of devices with high-quality materials exhibiting long carrier lifetimes. Photon recycling is also found to significantly improve the voltage of all junctions, in contrast to multi-junction solar cells which utilize junctions of differing bandgaps and where high-bandgap junctions benefit less from photon recycling.
The high-efficiency conversion of photonic power into electrical power is of broad-range applicability to many industries due to its electrical isolation from the surrounding environment and immunity to electromagnetic interference which affects the performance and reliability of sensitive electronics. A photonic power converter, or phototransducer, can absorb several watts of infrared laser power transmitted through a multimode fiber and convert this to electrical power for remote use. To convert this power into a useful voltage, we have designed, simulated, and fabricated a photovoltaic phototransducer that generates >5 V using a monolithic, lattice-matched, vertically-stacked, single-cell device that eliminates complex fabrication and assembly steps. Experimental measurements have demonstrated a conversion efficiency of up to 60.1% under illumination of ~11 W/cm2 at a wavelength of 835 nm, while simulations indicate that efficiencies reaching 70% should be realistically achievable using this novel design.
KEYWORDS: Solar cells, Receivers, Sun, Solar concentrators, Multijunction solar cells, Calibration, Temperature metrology, Computer simulations, Copper, Device simulation
The thermal performances of multi-junction solar cells, mounted on receivers, are studied to determine the change in
device efficiency with respect to sunlight concentration under continuous illumination. Experimental characterization of
the device was performed by measuring the solar cell current-voltage curve using both flash and continuous-illumination
solar simulators. We are able to extract the change in efficiency and open circuit voltage with respect to the change in
concentration from experiments with respect to the application of thermal paste between the receiver and the heat
exchange. We show the efficiency linearly decrease at a rate of -0.0094%/°C (no paste) and -0.0043%/°C (paste). We
used the calibrated numerical model to determine the solar cell temperature and incorporate the corresponding efficiency
when scaled up to 2000 sun concentrations under continuous illumination.
Triple-junction AlGaInP/InGaAs/Ge solar cells with embedded InAs quantum dots are presented, where typical
samples obtain efficiencies of > 40% under AM1.5D illumination, over a range of concentrations of 2- to 800-suns
(2 kW/m2 to 800 kW/m2). Quantum efficiency measurements show that the embedded quantum dots improve the
absorption of the middle subcell in the wavelength range of 900-940 nm, which in turn increases the overall
operating current of the solar cell. These results are obtained with 1 cm2 solar cells, and they demonstrate the
solar cells' low series resistance, which and makes them ideal for the current generation in commercial
concentrator systems. The thermal management and reliability of the solar cell and carrier is demonstrated by
testing the experimental samples under flash (up to 1000-suns) solar simulator and continuous (up to 800-suns)
solar simulator. Under continuous solar illumination, the solar cell temperature varies between ~Δ3°C at 260-suns
linearly to ~Δ33°C at 784-suns when the solar cell is mounted with thermal paste, and ~Δ27°C at 264-suns linearly
to ~Δ91°C at 785-suns when no thermal paste is used. The solar cells experience the expected shift in open circuit
voltage and efficiency due to temperature, but otherwise operate normally for extended periods of time.
KEYWORDS: Resistance, Solar cells, Oscilloscopes, Multijunction solar cells, Time metrology, Doping, Remote sensing, Power supplies, Calibration, Germanium
The current density-voltage characteristic of an AlGaAs/AlGaAs tunnel junction is determined by taking a time-averaged
measurement across the device. A tunnelling peak of ~950A/cm2 is recorded by this method. Measurements of the
tunnelling peak and valley currents by the time averaging method are obscured due to the unstable nature of the negative
differential resistance region of the current density-voltage characteristic. This AlGaAs/AlGaAs tunnel junction is then
biased inside the negative differential resistance region of the current density-voltage characteristic, causing the current
and the voltage to oscillate between the peak and the valley. The current and voltage oscillations are measured over time
and then currents and voltages corresponding to the same time stamps are plotted against each other to form a timedependent
curve from which a tunnelling peak of a value larger than 1100A/cm2 is determined. The peak determined by
this method is 11-20% larger than previously determined using the time averaged measurement. An AlGaAs/InGaP
tunnel junction having no negative differential resistance region is also presented.
Photovoltaic solar cells are a route towards local, environmentally benign, sustainable and affordable energy solutions.
Antireflection coatings are necessary to input a high percentage of available light for photovoltaic conversion, and
therefore have been widely exploited for silicon solar cells. Multi-junction III-V semiconductor solar cells have achieved
the highest efficiencies of any photovoltaic technology, yielding up to 40% in the laboratory and 37% in commercial
devices under varying levels of concentrated light. These devices benefit from a wide absorption spectrum (300-
1800 nm), but this also introduces significant challenges for antireflection coating design. Each sub-cell junction is
electrically connected in series, limiting the overall device photocurrent by the lowest current-producing junction.
Therefore, antireflection coating optimization must maximize the current from the limiting sub-cells at the expense of
the others. Solar concentration, necessary for economical terrestrial deployment of multi-junction solar cells, introduces
an angular-dependent irradiance spectrum. Antireflection coatings are optimized for both direct normal incidence in air
and angular incidence in an Opel Mk-I concentrator, resulting in as little as 1-2% loss in photocurrent as compared to an
ideal zero-reflectance solar cell, showing a similar performance to antireflection coatings on silicon solar cells. A transparent conductive oxide layer has also been considered to replace the metallic-grid front electrode and for inclusion as part of a multi-layer antireflection coating. Optimization of the solar cell, antireflection coating, and concentrator system should be considered simultaneously to enable overall optimal device performance.
The dephasing time in semiconductor quantum dots and quantum-dot molecules is measured using a sensitive four-wave mixing heterodyne technique. We find a dephasing time of several hundred picoseconds at low temperature in the ground-state transition of strongly-confined InGaAs quantum dots, approaching the radiative-lifetime limit. Between 7 K and 100 K the polarization decay has two distinct components resulting in a non-Lorentzian lineshape with a zero-phonon line and a broad band from elastic exciton-acoustic phonon interactions. On a series of InAs/GaAs quantum-dot molecules having different interdot barrier thicknesses a systematic dependence of the dephasing dynamics on the barrier thickness is observed. The results show how the quantum mechanical coupling of the electronic wavefunctions in the molecules affects both the exciton radiative lifetime and the exciton-acoustic phonon interaction.
Currently there is strong interest in realizing implementations of quantum computation and quantum cryptography in a solid state environment. One of the systems that are actively studied are semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). Due to their discrete energy level structure, they are often called artificial atoms, and they attract immediately interest of quantum information science since they allow to mimic the design developed for atomic physics systems such as ions in traps or atoms in cavities. However, despite of the similarities, one has to keep in main that any elementary excitation in a QD has a generic many-body character. An essential building block of a quantum processor is a quantum gate which entangles the states of two quantum bits. Recently it has been proposed that a pair of vertically aligned QDs could be used as an optically driven quantum gate: The quantum bits are individual carriers either on dot zero or dot one. The different dot indices play the same role as a "spin," therefore we term them "isospin." Quantum mechanical tunneling between the dots rotates the "isospin" and leads to superposition of two quantum dot states. The quantum gate is built when two different particles, an electron and a hole, are created optically. The two particles form entangled isospin states. The entanglement can be controlled by application of an electric field along the heterostructure growth direction. Here we present spectroscopic studies on single quantum dot molecules (QDMs) with different vertical separation between the dots that support the feasibility of this proposal. The comparison of the evolution of the excitonic recombination spectrum with the results of calculations allows us to demonstrate coherent tunneling of electrons and holes across the separating barrier and the formation of entangled exciton states. For a given barrier width, we find only small variations of the tunneling induced splitting between the entangled states demonstrating a good homogeneity within the obtained QDM ensembles.
Carrier dynamics in InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots have been studied by using time-resolved photoluminescence experiment. We have studied a series of doped quantum dot structures by looking at the role of the experimental conditions, such as the laser excitation intensity, the crystal temperature and the intersublevel energy, on the carrier relaxation time. For all samples, we have found two distinct relaxation regimes. At a crystal temperature of 77K, a rise time of the quantum dot emission signal of a few tens of ps has been measured under low photocarrier densities. This rise time decreases significantly, down to few ps, as the laser intensity increases. These results show that carrier-carrier scattering processes play a significant role at high photo-excited carrier densities. Under the low-excitation regime, the dot emission rise time depends on the dopant type, on the doping level on the degree of intermixing and on the temperature. Our results obtained on structures having a relatively low density of dots indicate that transport processes (diffusion and localization at the InAs/GaAs interfaces) limit the dot capture efficiency at low temperatures. The experimental conditions and the dot structural parameters that give rise to ultrafast capture and intra-dot relaxation times are discussed.
This paper discusses issues related to the quantum dot infrared photodetector (QDIP). We attempt to address the following questions of what is its potential, what is lacking, and what is needed to make the device interesting for practical applications.
Self-assembled AI36Ino.As/AIo33Gao.67As quantum dots have been studied by single dot photoluminescence
spectroscopy at T= 1.5 K. Emission from the biexciton state is observed, for which we find a binding energy of 5 meV, also,
larger multi-exciton complexes are observed at higher excitation intensities. These artificial atoms are found to have an
intersublevel spacing of7O meV. In magnetic field, we observe Zeeman splitting ofthe exciton and biexciton spectral lines.
Photoluminescence (PL) was used to investigate the interdifflision of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs)
treated by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and laser annealing. The observation ofintense and sharp shell structures confirmed
that the QDs retained their zero-dimensional density of states. In addition, three main effects of alloy intermixing were
demonstrated in QDs having different intersublevel spacings. The emission has been strongly blue-shifted, up to -200 meV for
RTA samples and 298 meV for the laser annealed ones. The intersublevel spacing was tuned between 6O meV to '-'25 meV
in the RTA case, but down to -12 meV in the case of laser-induced intermixing. Finally the inhomogeneous broadening
linearly decreased from a FWHM of-46 meV down to smaller than 15 meV for RTA and 8 meV in the most extreme case of
laser annealing. For samples annealed at the highest temperatures, the most energetic shells of QDs become unbound. Across
varying samples, the result ofthe intermixing was to increase the uniformity of their PL spectra. A onedimensional model of
Fickian diffusion for the growth direction was used to model their PL emission. Rapid thermal annealing and laser annealing
provide two additional ways of manipulating the energy levels of self-assembled QD ensembles by tuning the intersublevel
energy-spacing and the number ofconfined states.
From a recent study of the growth and optical properties of quantum dots (QD's), we demonstrated that artificial atoms with sharp electronic shells can be fabricated with good control, using self-assembled QD's grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Size and shape engineering of the QD's during growth permits the tailoring of their intersublevel energy spacings. We demonstrate a much improved uniformity of the macroscopic ensembles of QD's, with well-resolved electronic shells. In addition to size and shape engineering of the QDS's in the case of single-layer samples, we demonstrate significant improvements in the uniformity of the vertically self-aligned stacked QD's. State-filling spectroscopy of the zero-dimensional transitions between confined electrons and holes demonstrates that the energy levels are readily tunable. One to five confined levels, with an inter-level energy spacing between 25 and 90 meV, are obtained by adjusting the growth temperature or with post-growth annealings. Such QD's having well-defined excited-states have been grown in the active region of devices and results will be presented for lasers, detectors, or for structures displaying optical memory effects. For example, QD laser diodes with well-defined electronic shells are fabricated, and shape-engineered stacks of self-aligned QD's are used to increase the gain in the active region. Lasing is observed in the upper QD shells for small gain media, and progresses towards the QD ground states for longer cavity lengths. We obtained at 77K thresholds for Jth=15 A/cm2 for a 2 mm cavity lasing in the first excited state (p-shell), and at 300K for a 5 mm cavity, Jth is ~430A/cm2 with lasing in the d-shell. For an increased QD density, Jth is smaller than 100A/cm2 at room temperature. For inter- sublevel transitions, we demonstrated broadband normal incidence detection with responsivity approaching 1A/W at a detection wavelength of 5 microns. For interband detection, the photoluminescence decay time of p-i-n diode can be changed from ~3nsec to ~0.3nsec (3Ghz) with a reverse bias. For Qds capped with less than ~10 nm, remarkable charge transfers between QD and surface states lead to optical memory effects lasting over time-scales of several minutes.
Time-resolved photoluminescence (PL), steady-state PL, and electro-luminescence techniques have been used to characterize the carrier relaxation processes and carrier escape mechanisms in a self-assembled AlInAs quantum dots (SAQD) p-i-n laser structure under reversed bias. The measurements were performed between 5 K and room temperature on a ring mesa sample as a function of bias. At 100 K, the PL decay time originating from the SAQD decreases with increasing reversed bias from approximately 450 ps under flat band condition to approximately 150 ps for biases of -4 V. The data can be explained by a simple model based on electron recombination in the quantum dots or escape our of the dots. The escape can occur by one of three possible routes: direct tunneling out of the distribution of electron excited state level, thermally assisted tunneling of ground state electrons through the upper electron excited states or thermionic emission to the wetting layer.
Quantum Dot laser diodes have been made using InAs self- assembled quantum dots (QDs) in the active region of separate confinement heterostructures. The lasers grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) with stacked InAs QDs grown on GaAs gave record low thresholds of 13 A/cm2 at 77 K and 82 A/cm2 at 15 degree(s)C. On InP substrates, InAs QDs have been grown by Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) with InP claddings, and by MBE in InGaAlAs separate confinement heterostructures. For the InAs/InP by MOCVD, the QD photoluminescence (PL) peaks between 1.51 micrometers and 1.57 micrometers at 77 K and close to 1.6 micrometers at 300 K. Transmission Electron Microscope analysis correlated with the PL results reveal that the QD density depends on the growth interrupt time which follows the InAs deposition. For the InAs/InGaAlAs by MBE, the QD electroluminescence peaks at approximately 1.42 micrometers at 300 K.
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