Multi-stacked quantum dot solar cells fabricated by intermittent deposition of In GaAs

We report GaAs-based quantum dot (QD) solar cells fabricated by the intermittent deposition of InGaAs using molecular beam epitaxy. We obtained a highly stacked and well-aligned InGaAs QD structure of over 30 layers without using a strain compensation technique by the intermittent deposition of InGaAs layers. Moreover, there was no degradation in crystal quality. The external quantum efficiency of multi-stacked InGaAs QD solar cells extends the photo-absorption spectra toward a wavelength longer than the GaAs band gap, and the quantum efficiency increases as the number of stacking layers increases. The performance of the QD solar cells indicates that the novel InGaAs QDs facilitate the fabrication of highly stacked QD layers that are suitable for solar cell devices requiring thick QD layers for sufficient light absorption. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.