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Chalcopyrite Semiconductors for Quantum Well Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Afshar Maziar,
Sadewasser Sascha,
Albert Jürgen,
Lehmann Sebastian,
AbouRas Daniel,
Marrón David Fuertes,
Rockett Angus A.,
Räsänen Esa,
LuxSteiner Martha Ch.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201100362
Subject(s) - chalcopyrite , materials science , band diagram , solar cell , semiconductor , band gap , quantum dot solar cell , quantum well , epitaxy , optoelectronics , electronic band structure , heterojunction , multiple exciton generation , quantum dot , condensed matter physics , layer (electronics) , nanotechnology , polymer solar cell , optics , copper , physics , metallurgy , laser
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 confirmed using 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.