GaNP-based photovoltaic device integrated on Si substrate

Abstract Gallium phosphide is an important material in terms of III-V semiconductors integration on Si. In this work we study photovoltaic properties of GaP:Be/GaNP (Eg ~ 2.0eV)/GaP:Si p-i-n heterostructure grown on Si (100) with GaP buffer by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Correlation between the structural and optoelectronic properties of the fabricated device was studied by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron beam induced current (EBIC) and deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) techniques. The I–V characteristic of the fabricated mesa diode demonstrates short circuit current of 2.2 mA/cm2 and open circuit voltage of 0.8 V. TEM studies of the epilayer structural properties demonstrate high density of antiphase domains in the n-doped GaP buffer layer; however, they found to be annihilated in dilute nitride layer, where mainly threading dislocations were formed. EBIC investigation shows that crystalline imperfections of the heterostructure leads to poor carriers transport affecting the energy conversion efficiency. We performed numerical modeling concerning presence of the structural defects and discuss their influence on the diode performance. The carried out study is the initial step on the way to development of the growth technique of the GaP-based dilute nitride direct bandgap materials on Si for photonic and photovoltaic applications.