The role of extended and point defects, and key impurities such as C, O, and H, on the electrical and optical properties of GaN is reviewed. Recent progress in the development of high reliability contacts, thermal processing, dry and wet etching techniques, implantation doping and isolation, and gate insulator technology is detailed. Finally, the performance of GaN-based electronic and photonic devices such as field effect transistors, UV detectors, laser diodes, and light-emitting diodes is covered, along with the influence of process-induced or grown-in defects and impurities on the device physics.

Gan : processing, defects, and devices

Recombination of photogenerated charge carriers in polymer bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells reduces the short circuit current $({J}_{sc})$ and the fill factor (FF). Identifying the mechanism of recombination is, therefore, fundamentally important for increasing the power conversion efficiency. Light intensity and temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements on polymer BHJ cells made from a variety of different semiconducting polymers and fullerenes show that the recombination kinetics are voltage dependent and evolve from first-order recombination at short circuit to bimolecular recombination at open circuit as a result of increasing the voltage-dependent charge carrier density in the cell. The ``missing 0.3 V'' inferred from comparison of the band gaps of the bulk heterojunction materials and the measured open-circuit voltage at room-temperature results from the temperature dependence of the quasi-Fermi levels in the polymer and fullerene domains---a conclusion based on the fundamental statistics of fermions.

Recombination in polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells

Hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) is an important solar cell material. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of a-Si:H nanowires (NWs) and nanocones (NCs), using an easily scalable and IC-compatible process. We also investigate the optical properties of these nanostructures. These a-Si:H nanostructures display greatly enhanced absorption over a large range of wavelengths and angles of incidence, due to suppressed reflection. The enhancement effect is particularly strong for a-Si:H NC arrays, which provide nearly perfect impedance matching between a-Si:H and air through a gradual reduction of the effective refractive index. More than 90% of light is absorbed at angles of incidence up to 60° for a-Si:H NC arrays, which is significantly better than NW arrays (70%) and thin films (45%). In addition, the absorption of NC arrays is 88% at the band gap edge of a-Si:H, which is much higher than NW arrays (70%) and thin films (53%). Our experimental data agree very well with simulation. The a-Si:H nanocones functio...

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Optical absorption enhancement in amorphous silicon nanowire and nanocone arrays.

TCO and light trapping in silicon thin film solar cells

Size dependence of nanostructures: Impact of bond order deficiency

1. Introduction 2. Growth and structure of amorphous silicon 3. The electronic density of states 4. Defects and their electronic states 5. Substitutional doping 6. Defect reactions, thermal equilibrium and metastability 7. Electronic transport 8. Recombination of excess carriers 9. Contacts, interfaces and multilayers 10. Amorphous silicon device technology.

R. A. Street

Papers

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon