InGaAs axial-junction nanowire-array solar cells

Abstract

Axial p–i–n junction nanowire (NW) solar cells (SCs) with a position-controlled GaAs-based NW array were fabricated by selective-area metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (SA-MOVPE). The measured electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) signals showed the formation of an axial p–i–n junction, which confirms power generation under sunlight illumination. The series resistance of the NW SCs is much higher than that of conventional planar SCs based on Si or other III–V compound semiconductors. The main difficulty concerning the fabrication of these NW SCs is the degradation of series resistance between the GaAs-based NWs and the indium–tin oxide (ITO) deposited as a transparent electrode. The series resistance of the fabricated GaAs-based NW SCs was reduced by introducing a tin doping contact layer between the ITO and the NW array, which is formed by pulse doping. As a result of this improved structure, the fabricated SCs exhibited an open-circuit voltage of 0.544 V, a short-circuit current of 18.2 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.721 for an overall conversion efficiency of 7.14% under AM1.5G illumination. The series resistance of the SCs could be decreased to 0.132 Ω·cm2, which is one order of magnitude lower than that of the SC without a highly doped contact layer. This reduced series resistance indicates that nanostructure SCs with transparent electrodes and multijunction NW SCs with high efficiencies can be fabricated on a commercial basis in the near future.