Investigation and modeling of photocurrent collection process in multiple quantum well solar cells

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the carrier collection process in multiple quantum well solar cells, combining simulation and experiments to derive analytical models that improve understanding and design of these devices.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of carrier dynamics in MQW solar cells and provides analytical formulas for optimizing their design.

Findings

Spatial profiles of electron and hole densities are crucial for carrier collection.

Recombination effects are significant even in the intrinsic region.

Derived analytical formulas relate cell parameters to collection efficiency.

Abstract

Solar cells employing quantum wells can enhance the light absorption but suffer from the difficulty in photogenerated carrier extraction. Here, we analyzed the spectral response and the photocarrier collection mechanism of p-i-n multiple quantum well (MQW) solar cells using the effective-mobility model. Both the simulation and experiment results imply that the spatial profiles of electron and hole densities in MQWs play an important role in the carrier collection process. By considering the recombination increment under illumination, our findings suggest that the concept of the majority/minority carriers is important even in the intrinsic region: photogenerated electrons and holes only experience significant recombination when passing through the hole-rich and electron-rich regions, respectively. This can accurately explain the photocurrent behavior in cells with high background doping, background illumination, and different MQW positions. Based on the experimental findings, we derived analytical formulae for carrier collection efficiency, which directly show the impact of each cell parameter and can be used for the systematic cell design.