Chalcopyrite semiconductors for quantum well solar cells

Maziar Afshar; Sascha Sadewasser; Jürgen Albert; Sebastian Lehmann; Daniel Abou-Ras; David Fuertes Marrón; Angus A. Rockett; Esa Räsänen; Martha Ch Lux-Steiner

doi:10.1002/aenm.201100362

Chalcopyrite semiconductors for quantum well solar cells

Maziar Afshar, Sascha Sadewasser, Jürgen Albert, Sebastian Lehmann, Daniel Abou-Ras, David Fuertes Marrón, Angus A. Rockett, Esa Räsänen, Martha Ch Lux-Steiner

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The possibilities of using highly absorbing chalcopyrite semiconductors of the type Cu(In,Ga)Se ₂ in a quantum well solar cell structure are explored. Thin alternating layers of 50 nm CuInSe ₂ and CuGaSe ₂ were grown epitaxially on a GaAs(100) substrate. The optical properties of a resulting structure of three layers indicate charge carrier confinement in the low band gap CuInSe ₂ layer. By compositional analysis interdiffusion of In and Ga at the interfaces was found. The compositional profile was converted into a conduction-band diagram, for which the quantization of energy levels was numerically confirmedusing the effective-mass approximation. The results provide a promising basis for the future development of chalcopyrite-type quantum well structures and their application, i.e. in quantum well solar cells.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1109-1115
Number of pages	7
Journal	Advanced Energy Materials
Volume	1
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201100362
State	Published - Nov 2011
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Materials Science(all)

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10.1002/aenm.201100362

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title = "Chalcopyrite semiconductors for quantum well solar cells",

abstract = "The possibilities of using highly absorbing chalcopyrite semiconductors of the type Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 in a quantum well solar cell structure are explored. Thin alternating layers of 50 nm CuInSe 2 and CuGaSe 2 were grown epitaxially on a GaAs(100) substrate. The optical properties of a resulting structure of three layers indicate charge carrier confinement in the low band gap CuInSe 2 layer. By compositional analysis interdiffusion of In and Ga at the interfaces was found. The compositional profile was converted into a conduction-band diagram, for which the quantization of energy levels was numerically confirmedusing the effective-mass approximation. The results provide a promising basis for the future development of chalcopyrite-type quantum well structures and their application, i.e. in quantum well solar cells.",

author = "Maziar Afshar and Sascha Sadewasser and J{\"u}rgen Albert and Sebastian Lehmann and Daniel Abou-Ras and {Fuertes Marr{\'o}n}, David and Rockett, {Angus A.} and Esa R{\"a}s{\"a}nen and Lux-Steiner, {Martha Ch}",

year = "2011",

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language = "English (US)",

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journal = "Advanced Energy Materials",

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T1 - Chalcopyrite semiconductors for quantum well solar cells

AU - Afshar, Maziar

AU - Sadewasser, Sascha

AU - Albert, Jürgen

AU - Lehmann, Sebastian

AU - Abou-Ras, Daniel

AU - Fuertes Marrón, David

AU - Rockett, Angus A.

AU - Räsänen, Esa

AU - Lux-Steiner, Martha Ch

PY - 2011/11

Y1 - 2011/11

N2 - The possibilities of using highly absorbing chalcopyrite semiconductors of the type Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 in a quantum well solar cell structure are explored. Thin alternating layers of 50 nm CuInSe 2 and CuGaSe 2 were grown epitaxially on a GaAs(100) substrate. The optical properties of a resulting structure of three layers indicate charge carrier confinement in the low band gap CuInSe 2 layer. By compositional analysis interdiffusion of In and Ga at the interfaces was found. The compositional profile was converted into a conduction-band diagram, for which the quantization of energy levels was numerically confirmedusing the effective-mass approximation. The results provide a promising basis for the future development of chalcopyrite-type quantum well structures and their application, i.e. in quantum well solar cells.

AB - The possibilities of using highly absorbing chalcopyrite semiconductors of the type Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 in a quantum well solar cell structure are explored. Thin alternating layers of 50 nm CuInSe 2 and CuGaSe 2 were grown epitaxially on a GaAs(100) substrate. The optical properties of a resulting structure of three layers indicate charge carrier confinement in the low band gap CuInSe 2 layer. By compositional analysis interdiffusion of In and Ga at the interfaces was found. The compositional profile was converted into a conduction-band diagram, for which the quantization of energy levels was numerically confirmedusing the effective-mass approximation. The results provide a promising basis for the future development of chalcopyrite-type quantum well structures and their application, i.e. in quantum well solar cells.

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Chalcopyrite semiconductors for quantum well solar cells

Abstract

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