Title :

Carrier multiplication in bulk and nanocrystalline semiconductors : mechanism, efficiency, and interest for solar cells

Author(s) :

Delerue, Christophe [Auteur]
Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520 [IEMN]
Allan, Guy [Auteur]
Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520 [IEMN]
Pijpers, Joep J. H. [Auteur]
FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics [AMOLF]
Bonn, Mischa [Auteur]
FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics [AMOLF]

Journal title :

Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (1998-2015)

Pages :

125306-1-6

Publisher :

American Physical Society

Publication date :

2010-03-10

ISSN :

1098-0121

HAL domain(s) :

Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

English abstract : [en]

Carrier multiplication (CM), the possibility to generate more than one exciton in a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) after absorption of a single photon has been intensely debated in recent years. Following on previous ...
Show more >Carrier multiplication (CM), the possibility to generate more than one exciton in a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) after absorption of a single photon has been intensely debated in recent years. Following on previous theoretical and experimental work, we report here that: (1) although the CM factor (i.e., number of generated photons per absorbed photon) at a given photon energy is higher in bulk than in QDs of the same material [Pijpers et al., Nature Phys. 5, 811 (2009)], the energy efficiency (the relative fraction of the photon energy that is transformed into excitons rather than heat) is higher in QDs; (2) for the same ∼1.2 eV band gap, CM is more efficient in PbSe QDs than in bulk silicon; (3) nonetheless, the efficiency of solar cells based on PbSe QDs is not significantl enhanced by CM compared to a bulk silicon-based deviceShow less >

Language :

Anglais

Popular science :

Non

Collections :

• Institut d'Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie (IEMN) - UMR 8520

Source :

Harvested from HAL