Energy conversion approaches and materials for high-efficiency photovoltaics.

The past five years have seen significant cost reductions in photovoltaics and a correspondingly strong increase in uptake, with photovoltaics now positioned to provide one of the lowest-cost options for future electricity generation. What is becoming clear as the industry develops is that area-related costs, such as costs of encapsulation and field-installation, are increasingly important components of the total costs of photovoltaic electricity generation, with this trend expected to continue. Improved energy-conversion efficiency directly reduces such costs, with increased manufacturing volume likely to drive down the additional costs associated with implementing higher efficiencies.

Raman scattering study on Sb spray InAs/GaAs quantum dot nanostructure systems.

Unlabelled: The effect of Sb spray time on the structure of InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) systems with Sb spray prior to the capping of a GaAs layer was determined by a Raman scattering study. The Raman spectra of the InAs/GaAs system show two phonon signal bands related to interface (IF) defects, located at the low-energy side of InAs QDs and GaAs cap layer main phonon peaks, respectively. The intensity ratio of the IF defect relative phonon signal to its corresponding main peak shows a significant decrease with the Sb spray time increasing from 0 to 15 s, but increases for spray times larger than 15 s.

Suppression of dislocations by Sb spray in the vicinity of InAs/GaAs quantum dots.

Unlabelled: The effect of Sb spray prior to the capping of a GaAs layer on the structure and properties of InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is studied by cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Compared to the typical GaAs-capped InAs/GaAs QDs, Sb-sprayed QDs display a more uniform lens shape with a thickness of about 3 ~ 4 nm rather than the pyramidal shape of the non-Sb-sprayed QDs. Particularly, the dislocations were observed to be passivated in the InAs/GaAs interface region and even be suppressed to a large extent.