An investigation of GaSb/GaAs thermophotovoltaic cells

Author

Fan, Qibin ; Lim, A.L.C. ; Conibee, G.J. ; Bumb, C.W. ; Shields, P.A. ; Nicholas, R.J. ; Haywood, S.K.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Univ. of Oxford, Hull, UK

fYear

2002

fDate

19-24 May 2002

Firstpage

951

Lastpage

954

Abstract

The effect of growth conditions on the electrical and optical properties of p-GaSb/n-GaAs junctions grown by MOVPE has been studied. Low growth temperature (540°C), HCI treatment of the GaAs substrate prior to growth and addition of a 100nm InAs passivation layer were all found to increase the short circuit current (1_sc) under illumination and also the spectral response from the GaSb layer. An undoped GaAs buffer increased the open circuit V_∝ and improved the diode rectification but at the expense of photocurrent from the GaSb layer. Preliminary results suggest that n-doping the GaAs buffer layer may yield both high V_∝ and high current collection.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MOCVD; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; passivation; semiconductor growth; short-circuit currents; thermophotovoltaic cells; vapour phase epitaxial growth; 100 nm; 540 degC; GaAs; GaAs substrate; GaSb-GaAs; GaSb/GaAs thermophotovoltaic cells; HCl treatment; InAs passivation layer; MOVPE; diode rectification; electrical properties; growth conditions; n-doping; open circuit; optical properties; photocurrent; short circuit current; spectral response; undoped GaAs buffer; Diodes; Epitaxial growth; Epitaxial layers; Gallium arsenide; Human computer interaction; Lighting; Optical buffering; Passivation; Short circuit currents; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE

ISSN

1060-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7471-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190755

Filename

1190755