Wide-Bandgap InAs/InGaP Quantum-Dot Intermediate Band Solar Cells

Current prototypes of quantum-dot intermediate band solar cells suffer from voltage reduction due to the existence of thermal carrier escape. An enlarged subbandgap E_L would not only minimize this problem but would lead to a bandgap distribution that exploits more efficiently the solar spectrum. In this study, we demonstrate InAs/InGaP QD-IBSC prototypes with the following bandgap distribution: E_G = 1.88 eV, E_H = 1.26 eV, and E_L > 0.4 eV. We have measured, for the first time in this material, both the interband and intraband transitions by means of photocurrent experiments. The activation energy of the carrier thermal escape in our devices has also been measured. It is found that its value, compared with InAs/GaAs-based prototypes, does not follow the increase in E_L. The benefits of using thin-AlGaAs barriers before and after the quantum-dot layers are analyzed.