Selective Electron Exctraction in Nanowire-based Solar Cells

Abstract: The transmission function for a three and four rectangular barrier system of InP andInAs is computed using the transfer-matrix method and the transmission formalism. Thewidths of the wells and the barriers are varied while the barrier height is kept constant.Such a multi-barrier structure is designed in order to act as a filter in a nanowire basedsolar cell, where effective hot carrier transport would lead to an increase in the efficiencyof the current generation. In this case, the filter is designed in order to maximise thetransmission in the range 0.492 eV< E <0.504 eV and minimise the transmission above0.550 eV and below 0.460 eV. The optimal transmission for the three barrier filter wasobtained for a structure with 6.8 nm wide potential wells, 1 nm wide outer barriers and 4nm wide central barrier. On the other hand, the four barrier filter had the most satisfyingresults for potential wells of the widths 6.3, 6.3 and 6.8 nm and barriers of the widths 1,1, 4 and 1.4 nm.