Effect of rapid thermal annealing on InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells
- Author(s): Phu Minh Lam 1 ; Jiang Wu 1 ; Sabina Hatch 1 ; Dongyoung Kim 1 ; Mingchu Tang 1 ; Huiyun Liu 1 ; James Wilson 2 ; Rebecca Allison 2
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View affiliations
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Affiliations:
1:
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, UK;
2: Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Portsdown West, Portsdown Hill Road, Fareham Hants PO17 6AD, UK
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Affiliations:
1:
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, UK;
- Source:
Volume 9, Issue 2,
April 2015,
p.
65 – 68
DOI: 10.1049/iet-opt.2014.0079 , Print ISSN 1751-8768, Online ISSN 1751-8776
The effect of post-growth annealing on InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells (QDSCs) is studied. A significant improvement in photoemission, photocurrent density and spectral response was observed with post-growth annealing. The optimal anneal temperature was found to be 700°C, which lead to an 18% improvement in current density from 4.9 mA cm−2 for as-grown sample to 5.8 mA cm−2. We assign this enhanced performance to the reduced density of inherent point defects that was formed at the quantum dot (QD) and GaAs barrier. Post-growth thermal annealing of QDSCs is demonstrated as a simple route for achieving improved device performance.
Inspec keywords: III-V semiconductors; photoemission; solar cells; semiconductor quantum dots; point defects; current density; indium compounds; rapid thermal annealing
Other keywords: QDSC; quantum dot solar cells; photocurrent density; temperature 700 degC; spectral response; rapid thermal annealing; post-growth thermal annealing; point defects; optimal anneal temperature; InAs-GaAs; current density; photoemission
Subjects: Photoelectric conversion; solar cells and arrays; Solar cells and arrays; Annealing processes; Annealing processes in semiconductor technology; Other point defects
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