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Photoelectric properties of GaAs p-n-junction under illumination of intense

laser radiation

Article in Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering · October 2014
DOI: 10.1117/12.2077437

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 Photoelectric properties of GaAs p-n-junction under illumination of
intense laser radiation
S. Ašmontas, J. Gradauskas, A. Sužiedėlis, A. Šilėnas, V. Vaičikauskas, O. Žalys,
G. Steikūnas and A. Steikūnienė
Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius, Lithuania LT-01108

ABSTRACT

Results of experimental investigation of photoelectric properties of GaAs p-n-junction illuminated by short laser pulses
of 1.06 μm wavelength are presented. The influence of laser radiation intensity and external bias voltage on the
formation of photoresponse voltage has been studied. Free carrier heating was recognized to influence significantly the
magnitude of the measured photovoltage. Possibility to improve the conversion efficiency of solar cells is discussed.
Keywords: laser radiation, GaAs, p-n junction, photoresponse, electromotive force, solar cell

1. INTRODUCTION
The every year increasing energy demand, accompanied with depletion of organic fuel sources, global warming and
related climate changes necessitates looking for and developing renewable energy sources. A promising and
environmentally-friendly energy source is a solar cell [1,2]. But costly semiconductor materials make the energy
produced by photovoltaic systems relatively expensive. To reduce the cost one needs to reduce the cost of solar cells or
to increase their conversion efficiency by improving and developing new technologies and materials.
Currently about 80% of worldwide solar cells are made of silicon. The highest 16-20% efficiency demonstrate industrial
solar cells made of monocrystalline silicon. The efficiency of a one-junction silicon solar cell produced in a scientific
laboratory reaches 25% and is close to the theoretical limit of 31% [1]. However, these are among the most expensive
ones because they are produced of very expensive pure silicon. A similar efficiency show solar cells made of GaAs.
The efficiency of solar cells is limited by the efficient use only of photons having energy close to the forbidden energy
gap. Photons with higher energies create electron-hole pairs, and the excess energy is transmitted to free carriers. They
become hot carriers. The polarity of hot carrier thermoelectromotive force (thermoemf) is opposite to that of a classical
photovoltage. Hot carriers lose their energy by the way of heating the crystal lattice. The thermoemf caused by the lattice
heating has polarity also opposite to the classical’s one. All this reduces conversion efficiency of solar cells. Recently it
was shown [3] that the extraction of hot electrons increases the open circuit voltage in ultrathin α-Si p-i-n solar cells. To
observe the increase of the open circuit voltage the thickness of the solar cells must be less than 25 nm. Therefore such
solar cells will not be suitable for widely use.
The first experimental study of the influence of electron heating caused by laser radiation on formation of classical
photovoltage was carried out in [4] .It was established that photoresponse induced across InSb p-n junction during the
illumination of CO2 laser radiation consisted of two components: (a) the classical photovoltage due to generation of
electron-hole pairs, and (b) the thermoemf due to the carrier heating by the laser radiation. Later [5,6], the peculiarities of
the photovoltage formation in narrow-gap semiconductor p-n junctions were investigated. It was found that the carrier
heating caused by the CO2 laser radiation significantly influences the magnitude of the photovoltage.
In the case of wide-gap semiconductors when the photon energy is far less than the forbidden energy gap, the intraband
free carrier absorption of CO2 laser radiation leads to carrier heating. Therefore the photovoltage that rises across a p-n
junction under CO2 laser radiation is caused by the thermoemf of optically excited hot carriers. The hot carrier
photovoltage was observed for the first time across the germanium p-n junction under CO2 laser radiation [7]. Later the
hot carrier photovoltage has been investigated in GaAs, Si p-n and l-h junctions with an aim to develop fast infrared
detectors operating at room temperature [8-14].

Eighth International Conference on Advanced Optical Materials and Devices (AOMD-8), edited by Janis Spigulis,
Proc. of SPIE Vol. 9421, 942102 · © 2014 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/14/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.2077437

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 9421 942102-1

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 In this paper we present the results of experimental study of photovoltage formation across GaAs p-n junction under the
illumination of intense laser radiation. The influence of carrier heating on the magnitude of the measured photovoltage is
investigated as well.

2. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
The GaAs p-n-junctions were made from p-type 8.4 μm-thick layers with hole density 3.5·1017 cm-3 grown by liquid
phase epitaxy on n-type substrate with electron density 3·1017 cm-3. To obtain the ohmic contact, thin p+-layer with hole
density 1.5·1018 was grown upon the p-layer. The AuGeNi alloy was deposited by thermal evaporation, and metallic
contacts were fabricated by the lift-off technique. The p-n-junction was illuminated from the epitaxial layer side through
the square window etched in p+-layer (Fig.1). In the experiments the Nd:YAG laser with wavelength 1.06 µm and pulse
duration 15 ns was used. The incident power of the laser beam was varied by a set of neutral filters. The intensity of
radiation was measured by the photodetector STANDA 11HSP-FS1. To increase the excitation intensity, the laser beam
was focused on the sample surface, and maximum pulse power density was around 1 MW/cm2. Temporal behavior of the
photovoltage and laser pulse in nanosecond time scale was recorded by digital storage oscilloscope Instek GDS-2202
with sampling rate 1010 s-1.

d = 1.5 µm
d = 8.4 µm
AuGeNi
iIiiis,, iU»ii
ï` p-GaAs
r
-
AuGeNi
p = 1.5.101$cm3
p = 3.51017 cm3

n-GaAs n = 3.10" cm-3

AuGeNi omic contact

Figure 1. Sample structure

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The photoresponse voltage was induced across the GaAs p-n junction illuminated with the laser radiation. Typical
oscilloscope traces of the laser pulse and photoresponse pulse are presented in Fig.2. The observed photovoltage U
consisted of two components,

U = Uf + Uph. (1)

Here Uf is the fast component with polarity corresponding to that of thermoemf of hot carriers [4-6], and Uph is the slow
component of opposite polarity. Fig.2 shows that the maximum value of the fast component coincides with the laser
radiation peak. Measurements of current-voltage characteristics of the GaAs p-n junction show that the forward current
increases under the laser illumination.

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 Uph
. .

Uf
+ +.,,. +:¡¡¡¡, : photo response

laser
. .
520. ens
11250ns U CH2 EDGE
204...1 CH2

Figure 2. Oscilloscope traces of laser pulse (bottom) and photoresponse (top).

Fig.3 illustrates current-voltage characteristics of the junction measured in the dark and under the illumination at peak
intensity of the laser radiation. It is seen that at forward bias the laser radiation causes essential increase of the current,
whereas in the case of reverse bias there is no appreciable change of the current during the illumination.

Figure 3. Current-voltage characteristics of the GaAs p-n junction measured in the dark and under the illumination

The dependence of Uf on the laser intensity is shown in Fig.4. It should be noted that Uf linearly depends on laser
intensity. The same dependence has been observed previously on GaAs l-h-junction under the illumination of CO2 laser
radiation [14]. Linear dependence is inherent feature of the thermoemf of hot carriers. It implies that Uf is determined by
carrier heating.

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 Figure 4. The dependence of hot carrier electromotive force on the laser intensity at room temperature.

The slow component, Uph, has polarity opposite to that of Uf what indicates it to be caused by electron-hole pair
generation during the illumination of the laser pulse. Investigations of the Uph dependence on applied bias voltage show
that Uph decreases rapidly with forward bias and increases with the reverse bias. The same behavior of Uph on the applied
bias voltage was observed previously in narrow-gap semiconductor p-n junction under the action of intense pulses of
CO2 laser radiation [6].
The dependence of Uph magnitude on the laser intensity is depicted in Fig. 5. It is seen that the photosignal increases with
intensity of the laser radiation following the square law. This fact indicates that the electron-hole generation is
determined by the two photon absorption since the laser photon energy is less than the forbidden energy gap of GaAs.

Figure 5. Photovoltage in GaAs p-n junction versus laser intensity at room temperature

It is worth to note that the influence of carrier heating on formation of the photovoltage decreases with reverse bias
applied on the p-n junction. As mentioned above, the thermoemf of hot carriers becomes negligibly small at the presence
large reverse bias voltage applied on p-n junction, and the measured photoresponse is mainly determined by the classical
photovoltage caused by the laser radiation induced electron-hole pair generation.

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 4. CONCLUSION
Experimental study of photoelectric properties of GaAs p-n junction exposed to intense Nd:YAG laser radiation shows
that the photoresponse formation is stipulated by free carrier heating and electron-hole pair generation. The heating of
carriers leads to the substantial decrease of the measured photovoltage since the polarity of hot carrier thermoemf is
opposite to that of a classical photovoltage. To reduce the influence of hot carriers on the photovoltage generated across
a solar cell it is necessary to use the layered semiconductor structure. For example, a graded-gap semiconductor layer
could be grown over a p-n junction. Such semiconductor layer decreases radiation induced carrier heating and extends
the effectively used solar radiation spectrum since the polarity of photovoltage across the graded gap layer coincides with
that of a classical photovoltage across a p-n junction.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to Dr. S. Bumelienė and Dr. E. Širmulis for technical support and fruitful discussions.

REFERENCES

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