Electrical and optical properties of tin oxide-gallium arsenide heterojunctions

This paper describes the electrical and optical properties of tin oxide-gallium arsenide heterojunctions. These structures, comprising a highly conducting, wide gap semiconductor in contact with a lightly doped, narrower gap semiconductor substrate, have promise for photovoltaic applications. Epitaxial layers of gallium arsenide were grown by the reaction of trimethylgallium and arsine. These were covered with tin oxide, which was formed by the oxidation of tetramethyltin. All processing is described for eliminating photo-suppression effects in these structures. The photo-response and the electrical characteristics of the cells are also described.