ABSTRACT
We performed a systematic study involving simulation and experimental techniques to develop induced-junction silicon photodetectors passivated with thermally grown SiO2 and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) SiNx thin films that show a record high quantum efficiency. We investigated PECVD SiNx passivation and optimized the film deposition conditions to minimize the recombination losses at the silicon-dielectric interface as well as optical losses. Depositions with varied process parameters were carried out on test samples, followed by measurements of minority carrier lifetime, fixed charge density, and optical absorbance and reflectance. Subsequently, the surface recombination velocity, which is the limiting factor for internal quantum deficiency (IQD), was obtained for different film depositions via 2D simulations where the measured effective lifetime, fixed charge density, and substrate parameters were used as input. The quantum deficiency of induced-junction photodiodes that would be fabricated with a surface passivation of given characteristics was then estimated using improved 3D simulation models. A batch of induced-junction photodiodes was fabricated based on the passivation optimizations performed on test samples and predictions of simulations. Photodiodes passivated with PECVD SiNx film as well as with a stack of thermally grown SiO2 and PECVD SiNx films were fabricated. The photodiodes were assembled as light-trap detector with 7-reflections and their efficiency was tested with respect to a reference Predictable Quantum Efficient Detector (PQED) of known external quantum deficiency. The preliminary measurement results show that PQEDs based on our improved photodiodes passivated with stack of SiO2/SiNx have negligible quantum deficiencies with IQDs down to 1 ppm within 30 ppm measurement uncertainty.
ABSTRACT
Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is a p-type semiconductor with high optical absorption and a direct bandgap of about 2.1 eV, making it an attractive material for photovoltaic applications. For a high-performance photovoltaic device, the formation of low-resistivity contacts on Cu2O thin films is a prerequisite, which can be achieved by, for instance, nitrogen doping of Cu2O in order to increase the carrier concentration. In this work, nitrogen-doped p-type Cu2O thin films were prepared on quartz substrates by magnetron sputter deposition. By adding N2 gas during the deposition process, a nitrogen concentration of up to 2.3 × 1021 atoms/cm3 in the Cu2O thin films was achieved, as determined from secondary ion mass spectroscopy measurements. The effect of nitrogen doping on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of the Cu2O thin films was investigated. X-ray diffraction measurements suggest a preservation of the Cu2O phase for the nitrogen doped thin films, whereas spectrophotometric measurements show that the optical properties were not significantly altered by incorporation of nitrogen into the Cu2O matrix. A significant conductivity enhancement was achieved for the nitrogen-doped Cu2O thin films, based on Hall effect measurements, i.e., the hole concentration was increased from 4 × 1015 to 3 × 1019 cm-3 and the resistivity was reduced from 190 to 1.9 Ωâ cm by adding nitrogen to the Cu2O thin films.
ABSTRACT
Silicon-based tandem solar cells incorporating low-cost, abundant, and non-toxic metal oxide materials can increase the conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells beyond their conventional limitations with obvious economic and environmental benefits. In this work, the electrical characteristics of a metal oxide thin-film heterojunction solar cell based on a cuprous oxide (Cu2O) absorber layer were investigated. Highly Al-doped n-type ZnO (AZO) and undoped p-type Cu2O thin films were prepared on quartz substrates by magnetron sputter deposition. The electrical and optical properties of these thin films were determined from Hall effect measurements and spectroscopic ellipsometry. After annealing the Cu2O film at 900 °C, the majority carrier (hole) mobility and the resistivity were measured at 50 cm²/V·s and 200 Ω·cm, respectively. Numerical modeling was carried out to investigate the effect of band alignment and interface defects on the electrical characteristics of the AZO/Cu2O heterojunction. The analysis suggests that the incorporation of a buffer layer can enhance the performance of the heterojunction solar cell as a result of reduced conduction band offset.
ABSTRACT
We describe a system for parametric conversion of high-energy,Q-switched laser pulses from 1.064 microm to 2.1 microm in KTiOPO(4). High beam quality and efficiency are obtained by use of a two-stage system: An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a narrow beam with 8 mJ of energy, generates 1.9 mJ of signal energy for seeding an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). With 500 mJ pump energy, different OPA configurations produce up to 138 mJ signal energy with M(2) approximately 2.3.
