Type-II Gasb/Gaas Quantum Ring Intermediate Band Solar Cell
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Type-II GaSb/GaAs Quantum Ring Intermediate Band Solar Cell Denise Montesdeoca Cárdenes Supervisor: Prof. Anthony Krier Co-supervisor: Dr. Peter James Carrington A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) April 2019 Declaration of authorship I declare that the contents of this thesis, titled ‘Type-II GaSb/GaAs Quantum Ring Intermediate Band Solar Cell’, are the result of my own independent work. Where I have consulted the published work of others this is acknowledged by explicit references. I confirm that this work has not been submitted in whole or in any part for any other degree or qualification at this university or at any other academic institution. Denise Montesdeoca Cárdenes April 2019 i Type-II GaSb/GaAs Quantum Ring Intermediate Band Solar Cell Denise Montesdeoca Cárdenes April 2019 Abstract There is considerable interest in the development of high efficiency cost-effective solar cells for renewable energy generation. Multi-junction cells based on III-V compound semiconductors currently hold a strong position because they are well suited to solar concentrator systems. However, high efficiency can be also be achieved by exploiting two photon photocurrent relying on the intermediate band concept. This thesis reports on an in-depth investigation of solar cells containing type-II GaSb/GaAs quantum ring (QR) nanostructures, systematically studying their electrical and optical performance under different test conditions. The aim is to understand the potential and limitations of this system, working as an intermediate band solar cell (IBSC), towards improving the efficiency of the conventional GaAs single junction solar cell. Two different approaches were developed and investigated to enhance solar cell performance; (i) increasing the number of QR layers and (ii) decreasing the overall thickness of the QR stack. High density stacks of type-II GaSb/GaAs QR of high crystalline quality were successfully grown and characterized as QRSC for the first time. The stacks consisted of up to 40 QR layers with a linear density of 0.17 nm-1 along the growth direction, which is the highest reported to date for a type-II IBSC. By increasing the number of QR layers from 10 to 40, both the efficiency and the electroluminescence of the WL and QR transitions were enhanced by a factor of 4. Electroluminescence and open-circuit ii voltage (VOC) reciprocity was demonstrated experimentally, showing that QR radiative recombination limits VOC. Hole transport through the intrinsic region of the cell was improved by decreasing the QR stack thickness from 400 to 60 nm, which resulted in an enhancement of 15% in short-circuit current and 30% in conversion efficiency. However, the open-circuit voltage drops when adding QR to the GaAs matrix preventing high efficiency from being obtained. Two-photon photocurrent was studied in type-II QRSC using two-colour spectroscopy at 17 K and trapping was identified as the mechanism controlling QR (hole) charging. Above 100 K thermionic emission of holes was found to dominate QR discharging over optical emission. The non-radiative and radiative decay times of the QR were measured for first time at 10 K to be 10-100 ns, equivalent to rates of 108-107 s-1, under a peak flux of 1017 cm-2s-1. As illumination increases SRH is overtaken by radiative band-to- band recombination in high density QR stack SC. Partial VOC recovery (up to 56%) under high solar concentration of 4000 suns was demonstrated in type-II QRSC at room temperature, analysing current versus voltage characteristic for first time. Full recovery of VOC is prevented by the thermal coupling between the QR intermediate band and the valence band. In addition, hydrostatic pressure was applied to IBSC for the first time, to characterize type-II GaSb/GaAs QRSC. Under 8 kbar at room temperature the bandgap increased by 100 meV without modifying the carrier thermal energy and resulting in a VOC increase of 15%. iii En realidad competimos con nosotr@s mism@s, nosotr@s no tenenem@s control sobre el rendimiento de otr@s. Peter Cashmor iv Acknowledgements I would like to begin with the funding source, the PROMIS project funded by EU Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, giving thanks to the director of the project as well as to all the professors that took part in it. I want to thank everybody that has contributed to my research output. Thanks to my supervisor Prof. Anthony Krier for his support and his long lasting patience, even when everything seemed to not be working he always knew how to look forward. Thanks to my co-supervisor Dr. Peter Carrington from whom I have learnt almost everything and without whom this would be a poorer thesis. The content of this thesis is the result of a wide collaboration between different research centres and institutes, to which I sincerely give thanks to all for the support. Thanks to our main collaborator, Prof. Magnus C. Wagener from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, who performed the two-photon photocurrent and electroluminescence measurements as well as the theoretical derivations presented in this thesis. This thesis also includes time-resolved photoluminescence measurements done by the PhD student Shumithira Gandan at Tyndall National Institute (Cork) supervised by Dr. Tomasz Ochalski. I thank also my collaborators at Instituto de Energia Solar in Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Prof. Pablo G. Linares and Dr. Juan Villa, for the light concentration experimental setup. I also have to thank to Dr. Igor Marko and Prof. Stephen Sweeney at Advanced Technological Institute in Surrey University for hydrostatic pressure measurements. At the physics department at Lancaster University there were a bunch of people that have contributed to this research indirectly - Dr. Andrew Marshall and Dr. Adam Craig who managed the MBE system and taught me to be an independent user; Prof. Magnus Hayne and Dr. Peter Hodgson running the photoluminescence lab and discussing with v me about GaSb/GaAs QR properties; Dr. Qi Lu in charge of the labs of our research group and giving me training in device fabrication; and finally the last but not the least, Dr. Kunal Lulla, the cleanroom manager that apart from his strong friendship collaborated closely with me during the first months building and improving the recipe for fabricating the devices presented in this thesis. Now I move to thank to all the people who work every day in the department, the people behind the scenes, without whom the physics department will not be what it is. In the low temperature lab, special thanks to Alan Stokes for making the day more fun with his jokes and being always so kind. In the electrical workshop, thanks to Stephen Holt, Ashley Wilson and John Statter for their outstanding work. In the mechanical workshop, special thanks to Graham Chapman for his understanding and accuracy in his work. Also thanks to Dr. Christopher Somerton the cleanroom technician, Robin Lewsey IT engineer, Shonah Ion responsible for safety and security in the working areas, and to Stephen Holden storekeeper, known to most as Stevie store, thanks for his tips in northern English making the day more enjoyable when you need to buy something from the store. Following on to all the people for gave a warm welcome at my arrival at Lancaster - Nathan Woollett, Jean Spiece who most know as Juanito, Maxime Lucas, Simon Malzard, and Will Gibby. Thanks to all the people that were with me from the very beginning until the end. My dear friend Eva Repiso Menendez, yes the Spanish people have two unpronounceable surnames, that has shared with me not just the “bumpy roads” as she described but who has shared with me her joy for life and from whom I have learnt to be more brave. To James Keen that since the very beginning has been at my side supporting me in a way I cannot describe. James Eldholm, that always will be Jedholm, my office mate that become a very close friend and my personal cycling coach! Thanks to all those whom I met during these years and that have become a very vi especial part of the journey - Marjan, Veronica, Ryan, Emiliano, Charlotte, Laura and Ofogh, and all the Spanish community, making me feel like at home building a small family: Marta, Ramon, Elena, Charalambos, Vanesa, and Kunal and Eva as I have already mentioned. I have had the opportunity not just to share the PhD experience with my colleagues at Lancaster but also with an amazing group of people from all the world. PROMIS is not just an international network for academic training it has definitely been much more than that. Very special thanks to all of you for making from our training trips an extremely fun time: Davide, Lucas, Shumithira, Atif, Shalini, Julie, Stefano, Flavio, Mario, Mayank, Salman, Emma, Reza and Saed. And I want to end with all the people that always have been there in the distance, but I have felt very close. Moving to another country, another language and another culture is exciting but without the emotional support of all my friends will not have been possible. Special thanks to my best friend Esther, and my close circle of friends that I met during my time in Madrid: Marta, Oriana, Héctor, Carmen, David, Maria, Jose, Laura, Fran, Nerea, Laura and Dani. Returning to Madrid for work or fun is always a pleasure having all of you there. And from further in the distance but even closer to my heart, my friends from Canary Islands, Chema, Cecilia, Masabel and Amalia. As always, the best is left for the very end, my mother, whom without her infinite support in all the possible ways I will not be the person I am, she has always supported me to go higher and further, and here I am completing the PhD in United Kingdom.