Title :
Induced junction III-nitride solar cells for wide band gap solar cells: Modeling charge transport and band bending in polarized material
Author :
Williams, Joshua J. ; Ghosh, Koushik ; Faleev, Nikolai N. ; Williamson, Todd L. ; Honsberg, Christiana B.
Author_Institution :
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ, USA
Abstract :
III-N alloys of aluminum nitride, gallium nitride, and indium nitride are of high interest for solar cells as they span the majority of the solar spectrum from 6.2eV to 0.7eV. There are however challenges in creating conventional cells from these materials. Issues include an inability to produce high quality p-type material and polarization effects that block carrier transport in standard heterojunctions. We propose using an induced junction, a form of heterojunction, to create band bending and thus an effective p-n junction solely within n-type material. In this paper, we discuss theoretical equilibrium, transport, generation and recombination mechanisms within a III-N induced junction device. Recent experimental work with III-N material and device architectures will be added to help the model´s accuracy.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium compounds; indium compounds; solar cells; wide band gap semiconductors; band bending; carrier transport; charge transport; device architectures; electron volt energy 6.2 eV to 0.7 eV; equilibrium mechanisms; generation mechanisms; induced junction solar cells; p type material; polarization effects; polarized material; recombination mechanisms; solar spectrum; transport mechanisms; wide band gap solar cells; Gallium nitride; Heterojunctions; Materials; Mathematical model; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; III-N materials; heterojunction modeling; surface inversion;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th
Conference_Location :
Tampa, FL
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2013.6744898