Improving the photovoltaic properties of GaAs/GaAsBi pin diodes by inserting a compositionally graded layer at the hetero-interface

We investigated the effect of inserting a compositionally graded layer at the GaAsBi/GaAs interface on the photovoltaic and light-emission properties of GaAs/GaAsBi pin diodes. When the pin diode is operated as a solar cell, inserting a graded layer improves the open-circuit bandgap-voltage offset (W (oc)) to 0.51 V. This is comparable to or better than other materials-such as GaInNAs(Sb), which has a bandgap of 1.0 eV-that are expected to be used in multijunction solar cells. In contrast, W (oc) can be as large as 0.71 V for a pin diode without a graded layer. When it is operated as a light-emitting diode, inserting a graded layer in such a diode suppresses nonradiative recombination by a factor of 1/50 based on its electroluminescence intensity. Inserting a graded layer also makes it possible to avoid deterioration of the peculiar hetero-interface where the transition from the non-metallic nature of GaAs to the metallic nature of GaAsBi occurs. Moreover, the graded layer is effective in avoiding a pile-up of oxygen at the interface at low temperatures when growth is interrupted just before growing the GaAsBi layer. Thus, inserting a graded layer is the key to improving the performance of minority-carrier devices containing GaAsBi.