InP nanowire arrays with axial p-i-n junctions are promising devices for next-generation photovoltaics, with a demonstrated efficiency of 13.8%. However, the short-circuit current in such arrays does not match their absorption performance. Here, through combined optical and electrical modeling, we study how the absorption of photons and separation of the resulting photogenerated electron–hole pairs define and limit the short-circuit current in the nanowires. We identify how photogenerated minority carriers in the top n segment (i.e. holes) diffuse to the ohmic top contact where they recombine without contributing to the short-circuit current. In our modeling, such contact recombination can lead to a 60% drop in the short-circuit current. To hinder such hole diffusion, we include a gradient doping profile in the n segment to create a front surface barrier. This approach leads to a modest 5% increase in the short-circuit current, limited by Auger recombination with increased doping. A more efficient approach is to switch the n segment to a material with a higher band gap, like GaP. Then, a much smaller number of holes is photogenerated in the n segment, strongly limiting the amount that can diffuse and disappear into the top contact. For a 500 nm long top segment, the GaP approach leads to a 50% higher short-circuit current than with an InP top segment. Such a long top segment could facilitate the fabrication and contacting of nanowire array solar cells. Such design schemes for managing minority carriers could open the door to higher performance in single- and multi-junction nanowire-based solar cells.

Recent experiments presented in by Iveland et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 177406 (2013)] demonstrated that hot electron emission from cesiated p-contacts of III-nitride quantum-well (QW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) coincides with the onset of the efficiency droop. We have carried out Monte Carlo simulations of hot-electron transport in realistic III-N LEDs. The simulations account for the hole population and all relevant electron scattering and recombination processes. We show that Auger recombination generates a significant hot electron population, which is temporarily trapped in the conduction band side-valleys, without decaying completely before reaching the p-contact. The leakage current due to electron overflow and thermal escape from the QWs is shown to have a minimal impact on the droop. We conclude that the experimentally observed hot electrons are created by Auger recombination in QWs, and that the Auger effect as the origin of the droop is the only consistent explanation for the experimental findings of Iveland et al., [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 177406 (2013)].

We propose a direct electrical measurement method for determining the extraction efficiency (EXE) and internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of III-Nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The method is based on measuring the optical output power as a function of injection current at current densities near the external quantum efficiency (EQE) maximum and extracting IQE and EXE from the measurement data. In contrast to conventional methods, our method requires no low temperature measurements or prior knowledge of the device structure. The method is far more convenient than commonly used methods because it enables measuring the EXE and IQE of different LED structures at room temperature directly in a repeatable and consistent way. This enables convenient comparison of LED structures. We apply the method to determine the IQE and EXE of one commercial LED and selected self-grown planar LED chips to compare the effects of different LED structure designs. Our results are in line with published experimental results and also give more insight to our earlier findings regarding the effects of growth parameters on the quantum efficiency. In addition, our measurement method allows estimating the Shockley-Read-Hall and radiative recombination parameters if the Auger parameter is known.

In conventional multi-quantum well (MQW) LEDs, typically only one QW emits light due to a very nonuniform carrier distribution. We show by numerical simulations that by adopting a genuinely two-dimensional LED structure enabling lateral hole current injection into the QWs it becomes possible to achieve a more even carrier distribution potentially enabling smaller droop and uniform light emission from all the QWs in the MQW stack. We also show that the uneven emission may be explained with standard current transport models as quasi-Fermi losses between successive quantum wells. We demonstrate our findings by studying three different LED structures and comparing our results to published experimental results.