Design guidelines of InGaN nanowire arrays for photovoltaic applications

III-Nitride NanoWire array Solar Cells (NWSCs) combine the inherent properties of III-N semiconductors with waveguiding and confinement properties of nanowire arrays. In the present paper, some design guidelines of NWSCs made from Indium-Gallium-Nitride InGaN alloys are presented. Firstly, a detailed balance analysis was performed to show the importance of using InGaN materials to effectively convert the light to electricity, followed by an optical modelling to point out the advantages of using periodic nanowire arrays in designing solar cells. From the detailed balance analysis, it is expected that single junction solar cells made from In۰.۶۳Ga۰.۳۷N alloy result in the highest light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of ۳۱%, and the Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis RCWA simulations show that nanowire arrays made from InxGa۱-xN fractions (x values) ranging between ۵۰ and ۷۷% alloys may achieve efficiencies of more than ۳۳%, with a maximum efficiency of ۳۷.۷%  for In۰.۶۷Ga۰.۳۳N NW array. Substrate choice, array density and filling material impacts on device performance were also studied.

Keywords:

Detailed Balance Principle , InGaN Alloys , nanowires , Optical Modelling , solar cell