Extraction of p-n junction properties and series resistance in GaAs nanowire-based solar cells using light concentration.

Series resistance in solar cells limit their maximum conversion efficiency and thus should be minimized. Generally, such losses originate from deficiencies at the contact or absorber level. Quantifying them is the first step for tackling its reduction. In this work, we provide a new way to assess the series resistance in nanowire-based solar cells, which significantly underperforms predicted theoretical efficiency. We illuminate the devices at different levels of light intensity (from 1 to 1000 suns), which gives us insight in the carrier transport and series losses mechanism. We demonstrate the method on a device obtained by self-assembled GaAs nanowire p-n junction arrays on silicon. This analysis method provides a platform to distinguish the intrinsic response of the nanowire p-n junction from the series resistance effects. More generally, we provide a means of optimizing the efficiency in next generation solar cells, where contacts still have to be developed.

The investigation of in situ removal of Si substrates for freestanding GaN crystals by HVPE.

We investigate the etching of a Si substrate in the fabrication process of freestanding GaN crystal grown using a Si by HVPE. Followed by crystal growth, Si etching by vapor HCl at high temperature results in successful fabrication of the freestanding GaN. Due to the complicated vertical gas flows inside the reactor, careful design of the susceptor was implemented. The unintentional formation of Si x N y thin layer at the backside of the Si substrate after the epitaxial growth, which can cause the decreased etch rate and non-uniform etching of a Si substrate, was successfully prevented by N2 purging during and after the etching of a Si substrate. We believe that this study will guide us to achieve the growth of freestanding GaN over 8-inch diameters in the efficient and practical way.

The investigation of stress in freestanding GaN crystals grown from Si substrates by HVPE.

We investigate the stress evolution of 400 µm-thick freestanding GaN crystals grown from Si substrates by hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE) and the in situ removal of Si substrates. The stress generated in growing GaN can be tuned by varying the thickness of the MOCVD AlGaN/AlN buffer layers. Micro Raman analysis shows the presence of slight tensile stress in the freestanding GaN crystals and no stress accumulation in HVPE GaN layers during the growth. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the residual tensile stress in HVPE GaN is caused only by elastic stress arising from the crystal quality difference between Ga- and N-face GaN. TEM analysis revealed that the dislocations in freestanding GaN crystals have high inclination angles that are attributed to the stress relaxation of the crystals. We believe that the understanding and characterization on the structural properties of the freestanding GaN crystals will help us to use these crystals for high-performance opto-electronic devices.