InP-based lattice-matched InGaAsP and strain-compensated InGaAs/InGaAs quantum well cells for thermophotovoltaic applications
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Date
2006-12-08
Authors
Rohr, Carsten
Abbott, Paul
Ballard, Ian
Connolly, James P.
Barnham, Keith W. J.
Mazzer, Massimo
Button, Chris
Nasi, Lucia
Hill, Geoff
Roberts, John S.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AIP Publishing
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Abstract
Quantum well cells (QWCs) for thermophotovoltaic (TPV) applications are demonstrated in the InGaAsP material system lattice matched to the InP substrate and strain-compensated InGaAs/InGaAs QWCs also on InP substrates. We show that lattice-matched InGaAsP QWCs are very well suited for TPV applications such as with erbia selective emitters. QWCs with the same effective band gap as a bulk control cell show a better voltage performance in both wide and erbialike emission. We demonstrate a QWC with enhanced efficiency in a narrow-band spectrum compared to a bulk heterostructure control cell with the same absorption edge. A major advantage of QWCs is that the band gap can be engineered by changing the well thickness and varying the composition to the illuminating spectrum. This is relatively straightforward in the lattice-matched InGaAsP system. This approach can be extended to longer wavelengths by using strain-compensation techniques, achieving band gaps as low as 0.62 eV that cannot be achieved with lattice-matched bulk material. We show that strain-compensated QWCs have voltage performances that are at least as good as, if not better than, expected from bulk control cells.
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Keywords
Solar-Cells , Quantum wells , Band gap , III-V semiconductors , Dark currents , Bulk materials
Citation
Rohr, C., Abbott, P., Ballard, I., Connolly, J. P., Barnham, K. W. J., Mazzer, M., Button, C., Nasi, L., Hill, G., Roberts, J. S., Clarke, G. and Ginige, R. (2006) 'InP-based lattice-matched InGaAsP and strain-compensated InGaAs∕InGaAs quantum well cells for thermophotovoltaic applications', Journal of Applied Physics, 100(11), pp. 114510. doi: 10.1063/1.2398466
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Copyright
© 2006 American Institute of Physics, This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. The following article appeared in Rohr, C., Abbott, P., Ballard, I., Connolly, J. P., Barnham, K. W. J., Mazzer, M., Button, C., Nasi, L., Hill, G., Roberts, J. S., Clarke, G. and Ginige, R. (2006) 'InP-based lattice-matched InGaAsP and strain-compensated InGaAs∕InGaAs quantum well cells for thermophotovoltaic applications', Journal of Applied Physics, 100(11), pp. 114510 and may be found at http://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.2398466