2018/08/03 by S. Valdueza‐Felip, Valdueza-Felip, S., Arántzazu Núñez‐Cascajero +19 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Nanowire Synthesis and Applications #Semiconductor materials and devices
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1808.01117
openalex publication_date 2018/08/03 · openalex created_date 2019/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report the influence of the AlN interlayer thickness (0-15 nm) on the photovoltaic properties of Al0.37In0.63N on Si heterojunction solar cells deposited by radio frequency sputtering. The poor junction band alignment and the presence of a 2-3 nm thick amorphous layer at the interface mitigates the response in devices fabricated by direct deposition of n-AlInN on p-Si(111). Adding a 4-nm-thick AlN buffer layer improves the AlInN crystalline quality and the interface alignment leading to devices with a conversion efficiency of 1.5% under 1-sun AM1.5G illumination. For thicker buffers the performance lessens due to inefficient tunnel transport through the AlN. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using In-rich AlInN alloys deposited by radio frequency sputtering as novel electron-selective contacts to Si-heterojunction solar cells.