TY - GEN
T1 - Physics of the inter-subband transition in quantum-dot intermediate-band solar cell
AU - Cavassilas, Nicolas
AU - Suchet, Daniel
AU - Delamarre, Amaury
AU - Guillemoles, Jean Francois
AU - Bescond, Marc
AU - Michelini, Fabienne
AU - Lannoo, Michel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - This theoretical study sheds light on questions raised by inter-subband transition in quantum dot intermediate band solar cells. Based on a dedicated analytical model that correctly treats, from a quantum point-of-view, the trade-off between the absorption, the recombination and the electronic transport, we clearly show that it is essential to control the transit rate between the excited state of the quantum dot and the embedding semiconductor with a tunnel barrier. Such a barrier, matching the recombination and the tunnel rates, allows to strongly improve the current. On the other hand, by better controlling the retrapping, such a barrier can also improve the voltage. Finally this work, by giving a framework to design efficient inter-subband transitions, opens new opportunities for quantum dot intermediate-band solar cells.
AB - This theoretical study sheds light on questions raised by inter-subband transition in quantum dot intermediate band solar cells. Based on a dedicated analytical model that correctly treats, from a quantum point-of-view, the trade-off between the absorption, the recombination and the electronic transport, we clearly show that it is essential to control the transit rate between the excited state of the quantum dot and the embedding semiconductor with a tunnel barrier. Such a barrier, matching the recombination and the tunnel rates, allows to strongly improve the current. On the other hand, by better controlling the retrapping, such a barrier can also improve the voltage. Finally this work, by giving a framework to design efficient inter-subband transitions, opens new opportunities for quantum dot intermediate-band solar cells.
KW - Confinement
KW - Intermediate band
KW - Quantum electronic transport
KW - Tunnelling
U2 - 10.1117/12.2543573
DO - 10.1117/12.2543573
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85083694877
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices IX
A2 - Freundlich, Alexandre
A2 - Sugiyama, Masakazu
A2 - Collin, Stephane
PB - SPIE
T2 - Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices IX 2020
Y2 - 4 February 2020 through 6 February 2020
ER -