Solar Cells


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We follow two lines of investigation of solar cells fabricated with III-V semiconductors, namely: multijunction solar cells and quantum dot intermediate band solar cells.

In the case of a three junctions solar cell we have focused on alternatives for the central solar cell and the heteroepitaxy on Ge substrates.

A quantum dot intermediate band solar cell is fabricated with a single junction where the quantum dots introduce an electronic energy level within the barrier material bandgap, allowing for the absorption at three different threshold energies, leading to a better solar radiation harvesting if appropriate energies are selected.

Fig. 1 Solar cell structure

Fig. 2 J x V curves for the reference sample (black), and three others with a 3 nm GaAs cap layer: one In flushed at 630°C (red) and two at 700°C (pink), where for one of them the cap layer was deposited using TBAs as arsenic source (yellow)

Fig. 3 Spectral response of the intermediate band solar cell showing sub-bandgap absorption

The results obtained can be found in the following references:

  • Improved optical properties of InAs quantum dots for intermediate band solar cells by suppression of misfit strain relaxation.

    XIE, H.; PRIOLI, R.; FISCHER, A. M.; PONCE, F. A.; Kawabata, R. M. S.; PINTO, L. D.; JAKOMIN, R.; PIRES, M. P.; SOUZA, P. L.
    Journal of Applied Physics. , v.120.

  • InAs quantum dot growth on AlxGa1-xAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy for intermediate band solar cells.

    JAKOMIN, R.; Kawabata, R. M. S.; MOURÃO, R. T.; Micha, D. N.; PIRES, M. P.; XIE, H.; FISCHER, A. M.; PONCE, F. A.; SOUZA, P. L.
    Journal of Applied Physics. , v.116, p.093511 - , 2014.

  • Early nucleation stages of low density InAs quantum dots nucleation on GaAs by MOVPE.

    TORELLY, G.; JAKOMIN, R.; PINTO, L.D.; PIRES, M.P.; RUIZ, J.; CALDAS, P.G.; PRIOLI, R.; XIE, H.; PONCE, F.A.; SOUZA, P.L.
    Journal of Crystal Growth. , v.434, p.47 - 54, 2015.

  • Improving the Figures of Merit of Intermediate Band Solar Cells by Controlling the Capping Procedure of the Quantum Dots In: Photovoltaics Specialists Conference, 2016, Portlans, Oregon.

    E. Weiner; MICHA, D.; JAKOMIN, R.; PINTO, L. D.; PIRES, M. P.; SOUZA, P. L.
    Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. , 2016.

  • Influence of the quantum dot capping procedure on the density of defects of InAs/GaAs quantum dot intermediate band solar cells In: European Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2016, Munique, Alemanha.

    MICHA, D.; E. Weiner; JAKOMIN, R.; PINTO, L. D.; PIRES, M. P.; SOUZA, P. L.
    Proceedings of the European Photovoltaic Specialists. , 2016.

  • Strain relaxation in InAs Quantum dots and its suppression by In flush In: Microscopy and Microanalysis 2015, 2015, Portland, Oregon.

    XIE, H.; PONCE, F. A.; JAKOMIN, R.; Pires, M. P.; PRIOLI, R.; SOUZA, P. L.
    Microscopy and Microanalysis. Microscopy Society of America, 2015. v.21. p.983 – 984

  • From InAs extended monolayer flat 2D terraces to 3D islands grown on GaAs substrates In: 2015 30th Symposium on Microelectronics Technology and Devices (SBMicro), 2015, Salvador.

    TORELLY, G.; JAKOMIN, R.; PIRES, M. P.; DORNELAS, L. P.; PRIOLI, R.; CALDAS, P. G.; XIE, H.; PONCE, F. A.; SOUZA, P. L.
    2015 30th Symposium on Microelectronics Technology and Devices (SBMicro). IEEE, 2015. p.1
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