InGaAs axial-junction nanowire-array solar cells

Axial p-i-n junction nanowire (NW) solar cells (SCs) with a position-controlled GaAs-based NW array were fabricated by selective-area metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (SA-MOVPE). The measured electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) signals showed the formation of an axial p-i-n junction, which confirms power generation under sunlight illumination. The series resistance of the NW SCs is much higher than that of conventional planar SCs based on Si or other III-V compound semiconductors. The main difficulty concerning the fabrication of these NW SCs is the degradation of series resistance between the GaAs-based NWs and the indium-tin oxide (ITO) deposited as a transparent electrode. The series resistance of the fabricated GaAs-based NW SCs was reduced by introducing a tin doping contact layer between the ITO and the NW array, which is formed by pulse doping. As a result of this improved structure, the fabricated SCs exhibited an open-circuit voltage of 0.544V, a short-circuit current of 18.2 mA/cm(2), and a fill factor of 0.721 for an overall conversion efficiency of 7.14% under AM1.5G illumination. The series resistance of the SCs could be decreased to 0.132 ohm.cm(2), which is one order of magnitude lower than that of the SC without a highly doped contact layer. This reduced series resistance indicates that nanostructure SCs with transparent electrodes and multijunction NW SCs with high efficiencies can be fabricated on a commercial basis in the near future. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics