Graded Heterojunction Improves Wide-Bandgap Perovskite for Highly Efficient 4-Terminal Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells

Wide-bandgap(WBG)perovskite solar cells(PSCs)are essential for highly efficient and stable silicon/perovskite tandem solar cells.In this study,we adopted a synthetic strategy with lead thiocyanate(Pb(SCN)_(2))additive and methylammonium chloride(MACl)posttreatment to enhance the crystallinity and improve the interface of WBG perovskite films with a bandgap of 1.68 eV.The excessive PbI_(2)was formed at grain boundaries and converted into MAPbI_(3-x)Cl_(x)perovskites,which are utilized to form the graded heterojunction(GHJ)and compressive strain.This is beneficial for passivating nonradiative recombination defects,suppressing halide phase segregation,and facilitating carrier extraction.Subsequently,the device with GHJ delivered a champion efficiency of 20.30%and superior stability in ambient air and under 85℃.Finally,we achieved a recorded efficiency of 30.91%for 4-terminal WBG perovskite/TOPCon tandem silicon solar cells.Our findings demonstrate a promising approach for fabricating efficient and stable WBG PSCs through the formation of GHJ.

Thickness effect on solar-blind photoelectric properties of ultrathinβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)films prepared by atomic layer deposition

Theβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)films with different thicknesses are prepared by an atomic layer deposition system.The influence of film thickness on the crystal quality is obvious,indicating that the thicker films perform better crystal quality,which is verified from x-ray diffraction(XRD)and scanning electron microscope(SEM)results.The Ga_(2)O_(3)-based solar blind photodetectors with different thicknesses are fabricated and studied.The experimental results show that the responsivity of the photodetectors increases exponentially with the increase of the film thickness.The photodetectors with inter-fingered structure based on 900 growth cyclesβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)active layers(corresponding film thickness of 58 nm)exhibit the best performances including a low dark current of 134 fA,photo-to-dark current ratio of 1.5×10^(7),photoresponsivity of 1.56 A/W,detectivity of 2.77×10^(14)Jones,and external quantum efficiency of 764.49%at a bias voltage of 10 V under 254-nm DUV illumination.The photoresponse rejection ratio(R_(254)/R_(365))is up to 1.86×10^(5).In addition,we find that the photoelectric characteristics also depend on the finger spacing of the MSM structure.As the finger spacing decreases from 50μm to10μW,the photoresponsivity,detectivity,and external quantum efficiency increase significantly.

Superior Pseudocapacitive Storage of a Novel Ni3Si2/ NiOOH/Graphene Nanostructure for an All‑Solid‑State Supercapacitor

Recent developments in the synthesis of graphene-based structures focus on continuous improvement of porous nanostructures,doping of thin films,and mechanisms for the construction of threedimensional architectures.Herein,we synthesize creeper-like Ni3Si2/NiOOH/graphene nanostructures via low-pressure all-solid meltingreconstruction chemical vapor deposition.In a carbon-rich atmosphere,high-energy atoms bombard the Ni and Si surface,and reduce the free energy in the thermodynamic equilibrium of solid Ni–Si particles,considerably catalyzing the growth of Ni–Si nanocrystals.By controlling the carbon source content,a Ni3Si2 single crystal with high crystallinity and good homogeneity is stably synthesized.Electrochemical measurements indicate that the nanostructures exhibit an ultrahigh specific capacity of 835.3 C g^−1(1193.28 F g^−1)at 1 A g^−1;when integrated as an all-solidstate supercapacitor,it provides a remarkable energy density as high as 25.9 Wh kg^−1 at 750 W kg^−1,which can be attributed to the freestanding Ni3Si2/graphene skeleton providing a large specific area and NiOOH inhibits insulation on the electrode surface in an alkaline solution,thereby accelerating the electron exchange rate.The growth of the high-performance composite nanostructure is simple and controllable,enabling the large-scale production and application of microenergy storage devices.

High on-state current p-type tunnel effect transistor based on doping modulation

To solve the problem of the low on-state current in p-type tunnel field-effect transistors(p-TFETs),this paper analyzes the mechanism of adjusting the tunneling current of a TFET device determined by studying the influence of the peak position of ion implantation on the potential of the p-TFET device surface and the width of the tunneling barrier.Doping-regulated silicon-based high on-state p-TFET devices are designed and fabricated,and the test results show that the on-state current of the fabricated devices can be increased by about two orders of magnitude compared with the current of other devices with the same structure.This method provides a new idea for the realization of high on-state current TFET devices.

Accelerated Sequential Deposition Reaction via Crystal Orientation Engineering for Low-Temperature,High-Efficiency Carbon-Electrode CsPbBr_(3) Solar Cells

Low-temperature,ambient processing of high-quality CsPbBr_(3)films is demanded for scalable production of efficient,low-cost carbon-electrode perovskite solar cells(PSCs).Herein,we demonstrate a crystal orientation engineering strategy of PbBr_(2)precursor film to accelerate its reaction with CsBr precursor during two-step sequential deposition of CsPbBr_(3)films.Such a novel strategy is proceeded by adding CsBr species into PbBr_(2)precursor,which can tailor the preferred crystal orientation of PbBr_(2)film from[020]into[031],with CsBr additive staying in the film as CsPb_(2)Br_(5)phase.Theoretical calculations show that the reaction energy barrier of(031)planes of PbBr_(2)with CsBr is lower about 2.28 eV than that of(O2O)planes.Therefore,CsPbBr_(3)films with full coverage,high purity,high crystallinity,micro-sized grains can be obtained at a low temperature of 150℃.Carbon-electrode PSCs with these desired CsPbBr_(3)films yield the record-high efficiency of 10.27%coupled with excellent operation stability.Meanwhile,the 1 cm^(2)area one with the superior efficiency of 8.00%as well as the flexible one with the champion efficiency of 8.27%and excellent mechanical bending characteristics are also achieved.

Dual-Schottky-junctions coupling device based on ultra-longβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)single-crystal nanobelt and its photoelectric properties

High qualityβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)single crystal nanobelts with length of 2−3 mm and width from tens of microns to 132μm were synthesized by carbothermal reduction method.Based on the grown nanobelt with the length of 600μm,the dual-Schottky-junctions coupling device(DSCD)was fabricated.Due to the electrically floating Ga_(2)O_(3)nanobelt region coupling with the double Schottky-junctions,the current I_(S2)increases firstly and rapidly reaches into saturation as increase the voltage V_(S2).The saturation current is about 10 pA,which is two orders of magnitude lower than that of a single Schottky-junction.In the case of solar-blind ultraviolet(UV)light irradiation,the photogenerated electrons further aggravate the coupling physical mechanism in device.I_(S2)increases as the intensity of UV light increases.Under the UV light of 1820μW/cm^(2),I_(S2)quickly enters the saturation state.At V_(S2)=10 V,photo-to-dark current ratio(PDCR)of the device reaches more than 104,the external quantum efficiency(EQE)is 1.6×10^(3)%,and the detectivity(D*)is 7.5×10^(12)Jones.In addition,the device has a very short rise and decay times of 25−54 ms under different positive and negative bias.DSCD shows unique electrical and optical control characteristics,which will open a new way for the application of nanobelt-based devices.

The dawn of ultralong flexible semiconductor fibers

Inorganic crystalline semiconductors are foundational to the field of solid-state electronics.1,2 Among ample examples,elemental semiconductors such as silicon(Si)and germanium(Ge)are the cornerstone of the modern electronics industry.Moving into the new era of flexible electronics,the intrinsic rigidity of both Si and Ge has largely limited the applications of these exemplary semiconductors.Although multiple organic semiconductors are developed based on their favourable soft nature,the demands for high-performance semiconductors have inspired studies of making inorganic crystalline semiconductors flexible.Due to the brittle nature of these crystalline semiconductors,the strategies to enable their flexibility mostly address the mechanics in the geometrical forms of the material—in other words,dimension reduction.For example,zero-dimensional(0D)dots,1D fibers,and 2D films have been exploited to achieve flexible electronic systems.On the device level,both dots and films have been used in the assembly of monolithic devices,whereas fibers are mostly used in the form of a nanowire bundle or a nanowire forest to assemble a planar-type device,which does not exercise the fiber form but seeks the advantage of high surface area-to-volume ratio from the nanostructure.Micron-sized fibers are the more favorable candidates for fabricating devices in the fiber form from the processing perspective.

Optimizing the Performance of CsPbI3-Based Perovskite Solar Cells via Doping a ZnO Electron Transport Layer Coupled with Interface Engineering

Interface engineering has been regarded as an effective and noninvasive means to optimize the performance of perovskite solar cells(PSCs).Here,doping engineering of a ZnO electron transport layer(ETL)and CsPbI3/ZnO interface engineering via introduction of an interfacial layer are employed to improve the performances of CsPbI3-based PSCs.The results show that when introducing a TiO2 buffer layer while increasing the ZnO layer doping concentration,the open-circuit voltage,power conversion efficiency,and fill factor of the CsPbI3-based PSCs can be improved to 1.31 V,21.06%,and 74.07%,respectively,which are superior to those of PSCs only modified by the TiO2 buffer layer or high-concentration doping of ZnO layer.On the one hand,the buffer layer relieves the band bending and structural disorder of CsPbI3.On the other hand,the increased doping concentration of the ZnO layer improves the conductivity of the TiO2/ZnO bilayer ETL because of the strong interaction between the TiO2 and ZnO layers.However,such phenomena are not observed for those of a PCBM/ZnO bilayer ETL because of the weak interlayer interaction of the PCBM/ZnO interface.These results provide a comprehensive understanding of the CsPbI3/ZnO interface and suggest a guideline to design high-performance PSCs.

High-Q resonances governed by the quasi-bound states in the continuum in all-dielectric metasurfaces

The realization of high-Q resonances in a silicon metasurface with various broken-symmetry blocks is reported. Theoretical analysis reveals that the sharp resonances in the metasurfaces originate from symmetry-protected bound in the continuum(BIC) and the magnetic dipole dominates these peculiar states. A smaller size of the defect in the broken-symmetry block gives rise to the resonance with a larger Q factor. Importantly, this relationship can be tuned by changing the structural parameter, resulting from the modulation of the topological configuration of BICs. Consequently, a Q factor of more than 3,000 can be easily achieved by optimizing dimensions of the nanostructure. At this sharp resonance, the intensity of the third harmonic generation signal in the patterned structure can be 368 times larger than that of the flat silicon film. The proposed strategy and underlying theory can open up new avenues to realize ultrasharp resonances, which may promote the development of the potential meta-devices for nonlinearity, lasing action, and sensing.

Recent Progress of Electrode Materials for Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells

Flexible perovskite solar cells(FPSCs) have attracted enormous interest in wearable and portable electronics due to their high power-per-weight and low cost. Flexible and efficient perovskite solar cells require the development of flexible electrodes compatible with the optoelectronic properties of perovskite. In this review, the recent progress of flexible electrodes used in FPSCs is comprehensively reviewed. The major features of flexible transparent electrodes, including transparent conductive oxides, conductive polymer, carbon nanomaterials and nanostructured metallic materials are systematically compared. And the corresponding modification strategies and device performance are summarized. Moreover, flexible opaque electrodes including metal films, opaque carbon materials and metal foils are critically assessed. Finally, the development directions and difficulties of flexible electrodes are given.

Degradation of β-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky barrier diode under swift heavy ion irradiation

The electrical characteristics and microstructures ofβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky barrier diode(SBD)devices irradiated with swift heavy ions(2096 MeV Ta ions)have been studied.It was found thatβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) SBD devices showed the reliability degradation after irradiation,including turn-on voltage Von,on-resistance Ron,ideality factor n,and the reverse leakage current density Jr.In addition,the carrier concentration of the drift layer was decreased significantly and the calculated carrier removal rates were 5×10^(6)-1.3×10^(7)cm^(-1).Latent tracks induced by swift heavy ions were observed visually in the wholeβ-Ga2O3 matrix.Furthermore,crystal structure of tracks was amorphized completely.The latent tracks induced by Ta ions bombardments were found to be the reason for the decrease in carrier mobility and carrier concentration.Eventually,these defects caused the degradation of electrical characteristics of the devices.In terms of the carrier removal rates,theβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) SBD devices were more sensitive to swift heavy ions irradiation than SiC and GaN devices.

Improved mobility of AlGaN channel heterojunction material using an AlGaN/GaN composite buffer layer

The quality of an A1GaN channel heterojunction on a sapphire substrate is massively improved by using an A1- GaN/GaN composite buffer layer. We demonstrate an A10.4Gao.6N/AI0.18Ga0.82N heterojunction with a state-of-the-art mobility of 815 cm2/（V.s） and a sheet resistance of 890Ω/口 under room temperature. The crystalline quality and the electrical properties of the A1GaN heterojunction material are analyzed by atomic force microscopy, high-resolution X-ray diffraction, and van der Pauw Hall and capacitance-voltage （C-V） measurements. The results indicate that the improved electrical properties should derive from the reduced surface roughness and low dislocation density.

Efficient thermal analysis method for large scale compound semiconductor integrated circuits based on heterojunction bipolar transistor

In this paper, an efficient thermal analysis method is presented for large scale compound semiconductor integrated circuits based on a heterojunction bipolar transistor with considering the change of thermal conductivity with temperature.The influence caused by the thermal conductivity can be equivalent to the increment of the local temperature surrounding the individual device. The junction temperature for each device can be efficiently calculated by the combination of the semianalytic temperature distribution function and the iteration of local temperature with high accuracy, providing a temperature distribution for a full chip. Applying this method to the InP frequency divider chip and the GaAs analog to digital converter chip, the computational results well agree with the results from the simulator COMSOL and the infrared thermal imager respectively. The proposed method can also be applied to thermal analysis in various kinds of semiconductor integrated circuits.

Influence of Triangle Structure Defect on the Carrier Lifetime of the 4H-SiC Ultra-Thick Epilayer

Effect of triangle structure defects in a 180-μm-thick as-grown n-type 4H-SiC homoepitaxial layer on the carrier lifetime is quantitatively analyzed, which is grown by a horizontal hot-wall chemical vapor deposition reactor.By microwave photoconductivity decay lifetime measurements and photoluminescence measurements, the results show that the average carrier lifetime of as-grown epilayer across the whole wafer is 2.59μs, while it is no more than 1.34μs near a triangle defect（TD）. The scanning transmission electron microscope results show that the triangle structure defects have originated from 3C-SiC polytype and various types of as-grown stacking faults.Compared with the as-grown stacking faults, the 3C-SiC polytype has a great impact on the lifetime. The reduction of TD is essential to increasing the carrier lifetime of the as-grown thick epilayer.

Effects of growth temperature and metamorphic buffer on electron mobility of InAs film grown on Si substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

The growth of the InAs film directly on the Si substrate deflected from the plane(100) at 4° towards(110) has been performed using a two-step procedure. The effect of the growth and annealing temperature on the electron mobility and surface topography has been investigated for a set of samples. The results show that the highest electron mobility is4640 cm^2/V·s in the sample, in which the 10-nm InAs nucleation layer is grown at a low temperature of 320 ℃ followed by ramping up to 560 ℃, and the nucleation layer was annealed for 15 min and the second layer of InAs is grown at 520 ℃.The influence of different buffer layers on the electron mobility of the samples has also been investigated, which shows that the highest electron mobility of 9222 cm^2/V·s at 300 K is obtained in the sample grown on a thick and linearly graded InGaAlAs metamorphic buffer layer deposited at 420 ℃.

Double superlattice structure for improving the performance of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes

The novel AlGaN-based ultraviolet light-emitting diodes(UV-LEDs) with double superlattice structure(DSL) are proposed and demonstrated by numerical simulation and experimental verification. The DSL consists of 30-period Mg modulation-doped p-AlGaN/u-GaN superlattice(SL) and 4-period p-AlGaN/p-GaN SL electron blocking layer, which are used to replace the p-type GaN layer and electron blocking layer of conventional UV-LEDs, respectively. Due to the special effects and interfacial stress, the AlGaN/GaN short-period superlattice can reduce the acceptor ionization energy of the ptype regions, thereby increasing the hole concentration. Meanwhile, the multi-barrier electron blocking layers are effective in suppressing electron leakage and improving hole injection. Experimental results show that the enhancements of 22.5%and 37.9% in the output power and external quantum efficiency at 120 m A appear in the device with double superlattice structure.

Improved crystal quality of GaN film with the in-plane lattice-matched In_(0.17)Al_(0.83)N interlayer grown on sapphire substrate using pulsed metal organic chemical vapor deposition

We report on an improvement in the crystal quality of GaN film with an Ino.17Alo.83N interlayer grown by pulsed metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, which is in-plane lattice-matched to GaN films. The indium composition of about 17% and the reductions of both screw and edge threading dislocations （TDs） in GaN film with the InA1N interlayer are estimated by high resolution X-ray diffraction. Transmission electron microscopy （TEM） measurements are employed to understand the mechanism of reduction in TD density. Raman and photoluminescence measurements indicate that the InA1N interlayer can improve the crystal quality of GaN film, and verify that there is no additional residual stress induced into the GaN film with InA1N interlayer. Atomic force microscopy measurement shows that the InA1N interlayer brings in a smooth surface morphology of GaN film. All the results show that the insertion of the InA1N interlayer is a convenient method to achieve excellent crystal quality in GaN epitaxy.

Effect of growth temperature of GaAsxSb1-x metamorphic buffer layer on electron mobility of InAs/AlSb heterostructures grown on Si substrate

The InAs/AlSb heterostructures with step-graded GaAsxSb1-x metamorphic buffer layers grown on Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy are studied. The step-graded GaAsxSb1-x metamorphic buffer layers are used to relax the strain and block defects at each interface of the layers. Meanwhile, adding Sb to GaAs is also beneficial to suppressing the formation of dislocations in the subsequent materials. The influences of the growth temperature of the step-graded GaAsxSb1-x metamorphic buffer layer on the electron mobility and surface topography are investigated for a series of samples. Based on the atomic force microscopy（AFM）, high resolution x-ray diffraction（HRXRD）, reciprocal space map（RSM）, and Hall measurements, the crystal quality and composition of GaAsxSb1-x layer are seen to strongly depend on growth temperature while keeping the Ga growth rate and V/III ratio constant. The results show that the highest electron mobility is 10270 cm2/V·s and the roughness is 4.3 nm for the step-graded GaAsxSb1-x metamorphic buffer layer grown at a temperature of 410℃.

Effects of the strain relaxation of an AlGaN barrier layer induced by various cap layers on the transport properties in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

The strain relaxation of an A1GaN barrier layer may be influenced by a thin cap layer above, and affects the transport properties of A1GaN/GaN heterostructures. Compared with the slight strain relaxation found in A1GaN barrier layer without cap layer, it is found that a thin cap layer can induce considerable changes of strain state in the A1GaN barrier layer. The degree of relaxation of the A1GaN layer significantly influences the transport properties of the two-dimensional electron gas （2DEG） in A1GaN/GaN heterostructures. It is observed that electron mobility decreases with the increasing degree of relaxation of the A1GaN barrier, which is believed to be the main cause of the deterioration of crystalline quality and morphology on the A1GaN/GaN interface. On the other hand, both GaN and A1N cap layers lead to a decrease in 2DEC density. The reduction of 2DEG caused by the GaN cap layer may be attributed to the additional negative polarization charges formed at the interface between CaN and A1GaN, while the reduction of the piezoelectric effect in the A1GaN layer results in the decrease of 2DEC density in the case of A1N cap layer.

Reveal the large open-circuit voltage deficit of all-inorganic CsPbIBr_(2) perovskite solar cells

Due to excellent thermal stability and optoelectronic properties, all-inorganic perovskite is one of the promising candidates to solve the thermal decomposition problem of conventional organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells(PSCs),but the larger voltage loss(V_(loss)) cannot be ignored, especially CsPbIBr_(2), which limits the improvement of efficiency. To reduce V_(loss), one promising solution is the modification of the energy level alignment between the perovskite layer and adjacent charge transport layer(CTL), which can facilitate charge extraction and reduce carrier recombination rate at the perovskite/CTL interface. Therefore, the key issues of minimum V_(loss) and high efficiency of CsPbIBr_(2)-based PSCs were studied in terms of the perovskite layer thickness, the effects of band offset of the CTL/perovskite layer, the doping concentration of the CTL, and the electrode work function in this study based on device simulations. The open-circuit voltage(V_(oc)) is increased from 1.37 V to 1.52 V by replacing SnO_(2) with ZnO as the electron transport layer(ETL) due to more matching conduction band with the CsPbIBr;layer.