Citation
Fuertes Marrón, David and Cánovas Díaz, Enrique and Artacho Huertas, Irene and Stanley, Colin and Steer, M.J. and Kaizu, T. and Shoji, Y. and Ahsan, N. and Okada, Y. and Barrigón Montañés, Enrique and Rey-Stolle Prado, Ignacio and Algora del Valle, Carlos and Martí Vega, Antonio and Luque López, Antonio
(2013).
Application of photoreflectance to advanced multilayer structures for photovoltaics.
"Materials Science And Engineering: B", v. 178
(n. 9);
pp. 599-608.
ISSN 0921-5107.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mseb.2012.11.012.
Abstract
Photoreflectance (PR) is a convenient characterization tool able to reveal optoelectronic properties of semiconductor materials and structures. It is a simple non-destructive and contactless technique which can be used in air at room temperature. We will present experimental results of the characterization carried out by means of PR on different types of advanced photovoltaic (PV) structures, including quantum-dot-based prototypes of intermediate band solar cells, quantum-well structures, highly mismatched alloys, and III?V-based multi-junction devices, thereby demonstrating the suitability of PR as a powerful diagnostic tool. Examples will be given to illustrate the value of this spectroscopic technique for PV including (i) the analysis of the PR spectra in search of critical points associated to absorption onsets; (ii) distinguishing signatures related to quantum confinement from those originating from delocalized band states; (iii) determining the intensity of the electric field related to built-in potentials at interfaces according to the Franz?Keldysh (FK) theory; and (v) determining the nature of different oscillatory PR signals among those ascribed to FK-oscillations, interferometric and photorefractive effects. The aim is to attract the interest of researchers in the field of PV to modulation spectroscopies, as they can be helpful in the analysis of their devices.
