The emerging field of plasmonics has yielded methods for guiding and localizing light at the nanoscale, well below the scale of the wavelength of light in free space. Now plasmonics researchers are turning their attention to photovoltaics, where design approaches based on plasmonics can be used to improve absorption in photovoltaic devices, permitting a considerable reduction in the physical thickness of solar photovoltaic absorber layers, and yielding new options for solar-cell design. In this review, we survey recent advances at the intersection of plasmonics and photovoltaics and offer an outlook on the future of solar cells based on these principles.

Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices

The Al x Ga1−x As/GaAs heterostructure system is potentially useful material for high‐speed digital, high‐frequency microwave, and electro‐optic device applications Even though the basic Al x Ga1−x As/GaAs heterostructure concepts are understood at this time, some practical device parameters in this system have been hampered by a lack of definite knowledge of many material parameters Recently, Blakemore has presented numerical and graphical information about many of the physical and electronic properties of GaAs [J S Blakemore, J Appl Phys 5 3, R123 (1982)] The purpose of this review is (i) to obtain and clarify all the various material parameters of Al x Ga1−x As alloy from a systematic point of view, and (ii) to present key properties of the material parameters for a variety of research works and device applications A complete set of material parameters are considered in this review for GaAs, AlAs, and Al x Ga1−x As alloys The model used is based on an interpolation scheme and, therefore, necessitates known values of the parameters for the related binaries (GaAs and AlAs) The material parameters and properties considered in the present review can be classified into sixteen groups: (1) lattice constant and crystal density, (2) melting point, (3) thermal expansion coefficient, (4) lattice dynamic properties, (5) lattice thermal properties, (6) electronic‐band structure, (7) external perturbation effects on the band‐gap energy, (8) effective mass, (9) deformation potential, (10) static and high‐frequency dielectric constants, (11) magnetic susceptibility, (12) piezoelectric constant, (13) Frohlich coupling parameter, (14) electron transport properties, (15) optical properties, and (16) photoelastic properties Of particular interest is the deviation of material parameters from linearity with respect to the AlAs mole fraction x Some material parameters, such as lattice constant, crystal density, thermal expansion coefficient, dielectric constant, and elastic constant, obey Vegard’s rule well Other parameters, eg, electronic‐band energy, lattice vibration (phonon) energy, Debye temperature, and impurity ionization energy, exhibit quadratic dependence upon the AlAs mole fraction However, some kinds of the material parameters, eg, lattice thermal conductivity, exhibit very strong nonlinearity with respect to x, which arises from the effects of alloy disorder It is found that the present model provides generally acceptable parameters in good agreement with the existing experimental data A detailed discussion is also given of the acceptability of such interpolated parameters from an aspect of solid‐state physics Key properties of the material parameters for use in research work and a variety of Al x Ga1−x As/GaAs device applications are also discussed in detail

GaAs, AlAs, and AlxGa1−xAs: Material parameters for use in research and device applications

Adding optical functionality to a silicon microelectronic chip is one of the most challenging problems of materials research. Silicon is an indirect-bandgap semiconductor and so is an inefficient emitter of light. For this reason, integration of optically functional elements with silicon microelectronic circuitry has largely been achieved through the use of direct-bandgap compound semiconductors. For optoelectronic applications, the key device is the light source--a laser. Compound semiconductor lasers exploit low-dimensional electronic systems, such as quantum wells and quantum dots, as the active optical amplifying medium. Here we demonstrate that light amplification is possible using silicon itself, in the form of quantum dots dispersed in a silicon dioxide matrix. Net optical gain is seen in both waveguide and transmission configurations, with the material gain being of the same order as that of direct-bandgap quantum dots. We explain the observations using a model based on population inversion of radiative states associated with the Si/SiO2 interface. These findings open a route to the fabrication of a silicon laser.

Optical gain in silicon nanocrystals

UV-Visible ار راد ن .د TiO2 ( تیفرظ راون مان هب نورتکلا یاراد یژرنا زارت لماش VB و ) رگید زارت ی یژرنا اب ( ییاناسر راون مان هب نورتکلا زا یلاخ و رتلااب VB یم ) .دشاب ت ود نیا نیب یژرنا توافت یژرنا فاکش زار ، پگ دناب هدیمان یم .دوش هک ینامز زا نورتکلا لاقتنا VB هب VB یم ماجنا دریگ ، TiO2 اب ودح یژرنا بذج د ev 2 / 3 ، نورتکلا تفج کی دیلوت یم هرفح .دیامن و نورتکلا هرفح ی نا اب هدش دیلوت یم کرتشم حطس هب لاقت ثعاب دناوت شنکاو ماجنا اه یی ددرگ . TiO2 دربراک ،دراد یدایز یاه هلمج زا یم ناوت اوه یگدولآ هیفصت یارب (CO2) و بآ و ... نآ زا هدافتسا درک .

Advanced Nanoarchitectures for Solar Photocatalytic Applications

When a molecule absorbs a photon of appropriate energy, a chain of photophysical events ensues, such as internal conversion or vibrational relaxation (loss of energy in the absence of light emission), fluorescence, intersystem crossing (from singlet state to a triplet state) and phosphorescence, as shown in the Jablonski diagram for organic molecules (Fig. 1). Each of the processes occurs with a certain probability, characterized by decay rate constants (k). It can be shown that the average length of time τ for the set of molecules to decay from one state to another is reciprocally proportional to the rate of decay: τ = 1/k. This average length of time is called the mean lifetime, or simply lifetime. It can also be shown that the lifetime of a photophysical process is the time required by a population of N electronically excited molecules to be reduced by a factor of e. Correspondingly, the fluorescence lifetime is the time required by a population of excited fluorophores to decrease exponentially to N/e via the loss of energy through fluorescence and other non-radiative processes. The lifetime of photophycal processes vary significantly from tens of femotoseconds for internal conversion1,2 to nanoseconds for fluorescence and microseconds or seconds for phosphorescence.1






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Figure 1


Jablonski diagram and a timescale of photophysical processes for organic molecules.

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Fluorescence Lifetime Measurements and Biological Imaging

Consequences of the modified dielectric properties of semiconductor crystallites are explored. The notion and usefulness of an effective dielectric constant are analyzed using a self-consistent linear screening calculation. The binding energy of hydrogenic impurities is defined and calculated, and it is shown why these are always ionized in porous silicon. Self-energy terms associated with the surface polarization charge are discussed in the context of Coulomb charging effects. Their contribution to exciton binding energies is also determined. Consequences of charging effects on carrier injection in porous silicon are finally considered and shown to be important.

Screening in Semiconductor Nanocrystallites and Its Consequences for Porous Silicon.

We propose a method for tight-binding parametrization, designed to give accurate results in the calculation of confined edge states in semiconductor nanostructures of any size. Indeed, this improved tight-binding description accurately reproduces the bulk effective masses as well as the overall band structure. We apply it to the specific case of silicon. The electronic states of silicon nanostructures ~films, wires, and dots!, with various shapes and orientations, are calculated over large range of sizes ~1‐12 nm!, including spin orbit. Accurate analytical laws for the confinement energies, valid over the whole range of sizes, are derived. Consistent comparison with the effective mass and kip methods show that these are only of semiquantitative value even for sizes as large as 8 nm. The reasons for the failure of these techniques is analyzed in detail. I. INTRODUCTION Recent developments in the field of Si nanostructures 1‐3 have made possible devices with feature sizes below 10 nm. These devices have shown exciting low-temperature transport properties 4 with promising applications in microelectronics ~single-electron transistors and memories!. The most appealing challenge is now to achieve reliable roomtemperature operation. In this context, simulation is one of the keys to a better understanding of the underlying physics and optimization of these devices. An accurate and efficient description of the electronic properties of Si nanostructures

Method for tight-binding parametrization: Application to silicon nanostructures

The electronic structure of amorphous silicon nanoclusters is calculated within the empirical tight-binding approximation. The electronic states are classified into three groups: extended and weakly and strongly localized. The last category practically disappears in hydrogenated amorphous silicon clusters for which the blueshift is comparable to what is predicted for crystallites. The radiative recombination rates are comparable for small clusters $(\ensuremath{\sim}1\mathrm{nm})$ but 2 orders of magnitude higher for larger clusters $(\ensuremath{\sim}2\mathrm{nm})$ of the amorphous phase due to disorder induced breaking of selection rules.

Electronic Structure of Amorphous Silicon Nanoclusters

We studied the rate of spontaneous emission from colloidal CdSe and CdTe nanocrystals at room temperature. The decay rate, obtained from luminescence decay curves, increases with the emission frequency in a supralinear way. This dependence is explained by the thermal occupation of dark exciton states at room temperature, giving rise to a strong attenuation of the rate of emission. The supralinear dependence is in agreement with the results of tight-binding calculations.

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Frequency-Dependent Spontaneous Emission Rate from CdSe and CdTe Nanocrystals: Influence of Dark States

The screening properties of dielectric nanocrystals are analyzed. General arguments confirmed by detailed numerical calculations are presented. It is shown how macroscopic components of the electric field can still be defined for sizes larger than a few Fermi wavelengths and can still be obtained from the bulk dielectric function. The decrease of the average dielectric response with decreasing size is found to be due to the breaking of polarizable bonds at the surface and is not due to the opening of the band gap induced by the confinement.

Guy Allan

Papers

Screening in Semiconductor Nanocrystallites and Its Consequences for Porous Silicon.

Method for tight-binding parametrization: Application to silicon nanostructures

Electronic Structure of Amorphous Silicon Nanoclusters

Frequency-Dependent Spontaneous Emission Rate from CdSe and CdTe Nanocrystals: Influence of Dark States

Concept of dielectric constant for nanosized systems