Growth and Characterization of Type-II Submonolayer ZnCdTe/ZnCdSe Quantum Dot Superlattices for Efficient Intermediate Band Solar Cells.

摘要

In this thesis, we discuss the growth procedure and the characterization results obtained for epitaxially grown submonolayer type-II quantum dot superlattices made of II-VI semiconductors. The goal behind this study is to show the feasibility of this novel material system in fabricating an efficient intermediate band solar cell.;Intermediate band solar cells can potentially have an efficiency of 63.2% under full solar concentration, but the material systems investigated until now are far from optimum and are fraught with growth related issues including low quantum dot densities, presence of wetting layers, strain driven dislocations etc. Here, we have investigated a novel material system grown via migration enhanced epitaxy with stacked type-II ZnCdTe submonolayer quantum dots embedded in ZnCdSe matrix and having close to the optimal material parameters required for an IB material. Upon optimizing growth conditions for ZnTe/ZnSe multilayer quantum dot systems, the growth parameters were modified so as to obtain various ZnCdTe/ZnCdSe samples grown on InP substrates. An extensive characterization has been performed to investigate structural, optical as well as electrical properties of these multilayered structures. Finally, a preliminary device fabrication has been performed, which will provide definite guidelines towards optimization of an actual intermediate band solar cell structure.;To restate, the objective of this thesis is to demonstrate successful growth and characterization of multilayer structures with embedded submonolayer type-II quantum dots in order to explore the possibility of employing them as an intermediate band material, with the goal of engineering an ultra-efficient intermediate band solar cell.