Effects of electric field on thermal and tunneling carrier escape in InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells

摘要

The effects of electric field on carrier escape in InAs/GaAs quantum dots embedded in a p-i-n solar cell structures have been studied by quantum efficiency. Via band structure simulation, effective barrier height of carriers inside QDs is reduced with increasing local electric field, so tunneling and thermal escape are enhanced. At 300K, when electric field intensity is below 40kV/cm, thermal escape is dominant in all confined states in QDs; when electric field intensity is above 40kV/cm, tunneling is dominant in shallow confined states and thermal escape is dominant in the ground state of QDs.