Resistance to edge recombination in GaAs-based dots-in-a-well solar cells

Abstract

Insensitivity to edge recombination is observed in GaAs-based InAs/InGaAs quantum dots-in-a-well (DWELL) solar cells by comparing its current-voltage (IV) plot to GaAs control samples. The edge recombination current component is extracted by analyzing devices of different areas and then compared to DWELL cells of comparable dimensions. The results demonstrate that GaAs-based solar cells incorporating a DWELL design are relatively insensitive to edge recombination by suppressing lateral diffusion of carriers in the intrinsic layer, and thus promising for applications that require small area devices such as concentration or flexible surfaces.