5388 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 67, NO.

12, DECEMBER 2020

Effect of Different Metallic Contacts

on the Device Performance of a p-n
Heterostructure of a Topological
Insulator and Silicon (p-Bi2Te3/n-Si)
Faizan Ahmad, Kavindra Kandpal, Member, IEEE, Naresh Kumar, Rachana Kumar,
and Pramod Kumar , Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract — This article investigates the performance of I. I NTRODUCTION
the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure diode with different metal-
lic contacts. The heterostructure was realized by the thermal
coating of a topological insulator (TI) Bi2 Te3 film on n-Si.
The crystal phase study of the Bi2 Te3 film was done by X-ray
T HE basis of a general solar cell is a p-n junction diode.
The solar cell was first discovered with silicon (Si) [1],
[2] and then gallium arsenide [3]. The focus was on achieving
diffraction (XRD), while the microstructural and morphologi- an efficient photoelectronic device. Nowadays, there has been
cal study was done by scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The CV characteriza-
a lot of research on 2-D materials [4] due to their excellent
tion for the diode showed almost no hysteresis except for transport properties. These 2-D materials have emerged as
the gold (Au) contact device, which could be due to the an alternative to Si for nanodevices and form the core of
trapping of electrons at the interface. The current–voltage optoelectronics devices such as solar cells [5]. Materials such
(IV) measurement was done in the dark, which confirmed as 2-D graphene [6] were used due to their high carrier
the formation of p-n diode heterostructure. Diode having
mobility but suffered because of their bandgap limitations.
platinum (Pt) metallic contact exhibited the best ideality
factor (n = 7.00), while the diode with gold (Au) contact Other alternatives such as transition metal dichalcogenides
closely followed it (n = 8.91). The best figure of merit (TMDs) [7] have received attention owing to their adequate
(FOM) ≈ 2.588 was observed for Pt contact device with bandgap for the necessary on-to-off ratio required for logic
the maximum rectification ratio (RR) ≈ 442 and majority devices [8]. TMDs, such as MoS2 [9] possessing unique
charge carrier concentration (NA ) = 1.47 × 1025 /cm3 . The optical properties and power consumption efficiency than
experimental results of I − V for different contact devices
were further simulated using the two-diode model and vari- the existing Si-based devices, form an integral part of the
ous diode parameters were extracted. The current density– nanoscale optoelectronics [10]. A variety of techniques have
voltage (JV) and local ideality factor–voltage (nV) plots were been used to realize the p-n junction. The 3-D p-n junction
studied to find the ideality factor and recombination current is generally realized in bulk by introducing dopants in two
(J02 ) for different metallic contact devices. The Pt contact different parts within a single crystal [11]. Considering the
diode was found to be nearest to the ideal behavior of a
diode exhibiting the least recombination current (J02 ) = exceptional properties of these semiconductors in 2-D, they
9.7 × 10−17 A/cm2 . were further scaled down from 3-D to 2-D to observe their
Index Terms — Bismuth telluride (Bi2 Te3 )/silicon (Si), exciting results. The 2-D p-n junction structure can also be
diode optimization, heterostructure, p-n diode, topological constructed laterally, where the two different 2-D materials
insulator (TI) film. are joined in the same plane with the formation of a 1-D
interface. A vertical p-n junction is realized by stacking
the 2-D materials superficially one on another to create an
imbricate [12]. The ultrathin layers of a 2-D material-based
Manuscript received July 6, 2020; revised August 27, 2020; accepted p-n junction give an edge in terms of peculiar properties when
October 2, 2020. Date of publication October 22, 2020; date of cur-
rent version November 24, 2020. This work was supported by DST, compared with their 3-D material junctions [12]. Thickness-
Government of India. The review of this article was arranged by Editor dependent bandgap of the material is one of the things which
B. Hoex. (Corresponding author: Pramod kumar.) can be exploited to formulate some exciting parameters out of
Faizan Ahmad and Pramod Kumar are with the Spintronics and
Magnetic Materials Laboratory, Department of Applied Sciences, IIIT
a p-n junction [13]. There is also a possibility of fabricating
Allahabad, Prayagraj 211012, India (e-mail: [email protected]; a mixed dimensional p-n junction of 0-D, 1-D, and 3-D with
[email protected]). the 2-D material [12]. The 2D–0D and 2D–1D p-n junction
Kavindra Kandpal is with the Department of Electronics and Commu-
nication Engineering, IIIT Allahabad, Prayagraj 211012, India.
was realized with molecular crystal or nanotube film junction
Naresh Kumar is with the Department of Physics, Motilal Nehru with 2-D material film. However, 2D–3D p-n junction is
National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, Allahabad 211004, India. fabricated by making 2-D contact of the material with the
Rachana Kumar is with the CSIR—National Physical Laboratory,
New Delhi 110012, India. 3-D material [12]. These junctions can be classified as homo-
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this article are available junction or heterojunction depending on the same or different
online at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org. materials used. The combination of using two different mate-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TED.2020.3029126
rials forming a 2-D heterostructure junction is more enticing
0018-9383 © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Santa Barbara. Downloaded on June 18,2021 at 07:28:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AHMAD et al.: EFFECT OF DIFFERENT METALLIC CONTACTS ON THE DEVICE PERFORMANCE OF A p-n HETEROSTRUCTURE 5389

due to the contrasting bandgap alignment and doping profile contacts on device performance needs to be studied to optimize
available. The 2-D p-n junction devices can be fabricated using its performance.
various top–down and bottom–up approaches [14]. The quest In this article, we have grown a thin TI film of Bi2 Te3 on
for more efficient electronics devices with minimal power the n-Si substrate under high vacuum conditions. The p-Bi2
loss leads the researchers to move beyond Si toward other Te3 /n-Si heterostructure was realized by growing a p-type
materials such as graphene, having 100 times higher electron Bi2 Te3 TI film on the n-type Si substrate by thermal coat-
mobility than Si. Due to graphene 2-D nature, there are few ing technique. Different metallic contacts such as aluminum
limitations due to impurities causing electronic disorder with (Al), silver (Ag), gold (Au), copper (Cu), and platinum (Pt)
the atomic thickness film [15]. Therefore, it is conjoined with were used as electrodes in these heterostructure devices.
another material to overcome these limitations. Topological The I − V and capacitance–voltage (C V ) measurements of
insulators (TIs) are newly discovered novel class of mate- the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure were done under a dark
rials that behave as an insulator in bulk but, at the same environment. The microstructure studies of the Bi2 Te3 film
time, possess robust conducting edges on their surface [16]. were done using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force
Contrary to the ordinary electrical conductance, the edges of microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
these TI materials have an electrical path with almost zero Hall measurement was used to study the charge carrier type
dissipation energy, which makes it a hot prospect for electronic in the Bi2 Te3 film, while ellipsometry was used to measure
devices applications, particularly in switching transistors. Bis- the film thickness. The I − V measurement of the p-Bi2
muth telluride (Bi2 Te3 ) is one of the chalcogenide layered Te3 /n-Si confirmed the diode behavior of the heterostructure.
semiconductors and is also known as a 3-D TI material [17]. Heterostructures with different metallic contacts were com-
It has found applications in thermoelectric material and devices pared by extracting various diode parameters. The I − V
for decades [18]. But recently, Bi2 Te3 has shown remarkable characteristics of different contact diodes were further fit with
“topologically protected” conducting surface states having the two-diode model [26] to extract various parameters of the
spin-polarized Dirac electrons [17]. Due to narrow bandgap p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure. Current density–voltage ( J V )
(∼0.17 eV) and Dirac linear dispersion band on the surface, and local ideality factor–voltage (nV ) results of the two-diode
it serves the aim of both wideband absorption and curtailing simulation were studied for the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si devices, with
the recombination of photogenerated carriers [19]. The phys- different metallic contacts. The n − V curve reveals about the
ical vapor deposition (PVD) deposited Bi2 Te3 film exhibits recombination mechanism and its detrimental influence on the
p-type charge carriers because of vacancies and antisite-based heterostructure devices. The study of these detrimental influ-
crystalline defects present in the film [20]. Lots of recent work ences on the device performance is important for these devices
are directed toward forming a good heterostructure with a when used for further applications, particularly in solar cells.
2-D film. A recent study on Bi2 Te3 /Si heterostructure formed
using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique showed wide- II. E XPERIMENTAL D ETAILS
band photoresponse (370–1550 nm) with good responsivity Standard Radio Corporation of America (RCA) cleaning
(250 mA/W) and switching behavior [21]. It exhibited an techniques were used to clean the n-Si substrates before the
excellent p-n diode characteristic and its photoresponse was growth of the film on it. The n-Si substrate with dimensions
further optimized for application in solar cells [21], [22]. = 10 mm × 1.0 mm × 275 μm and resistivity ∼5 -cm
Earlier, we have optimized the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure was used for device fabrication. After standard RCA cleaning,
by growing a thin p-type TI film of Bi2 Te3 on the n-Si substrate the substrate was thermally coated with the Bi2 Te3 film. The
by thermal coating technique [23]. The heterostructure p-Bi2 process used Bi2 Te3 material (powder form), having a purity
Te3 /n-Si shows the formation of p-n diode as confirmed by of 99.98% (metal basis), as a precursor for thermal coating.
its current–voltage (I V ) characteristics. Furthermore, the het- A thermal coating unit (Scientific & Analytical Instruments)
erostructure was annealed to optimize the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si diode. was used to deposit the Bi2 Te3 TI film under high vacuum
The effect of annealing on the transport property of the Bi2 Te3 conditions (10−6 Torr). Molybdenum (Mo) square boat was
TI film and its implications on the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostruc- used to melt and deposit the Bi2 Te3 material. A thin film
ture diode were also studied [23]. It was found that metals used of Bi2 Te3 was deposited on the half masked n-Si substrate,
for contacts in this heterostructure device fabrication play a clamped inside the thermal coating unit. The current supplied
significant part in the conduction of electrons/holes through to the Mo boat was roughly 55–60 A, for approximately 1 h.
the potential barrier [24], [25]. The selection of metal for Al foil was used for masking the substrate and was removed
defining contacts remains one of the essential issues in the field after the film deposition process. The thin film deposited on n-
of 2-D field-effect transistors (FETs) and photodetectors [24], Si was studied for crystalline phases by XRD. The morphology
[25]. Metals with high work function, when used as contacts, and the microstructure analysis of the Bi2 Te3 film were done
respond with large drain current [24]. Whereas devices with by AFM and SEM. The thickness of the film was controlled
low work function metallic contacts exhibited ambipolar char- by the inbuilt quartz crystal monitor, in the thermal coating
acteristics [24]. A record-high photoresponsivity (223 mA/V) chamber. By ellipsometer (J.A. Woollam Company, Inc.),
was observed working with 2-D back phosphorus (BP) opto- the thickness of the grown film was found to be ∼150 nm. The
electronic device by contact optimization [24]. Ideally, a low contacts on the heterostructure were patterned with the help of
resistance ohmic metal contact is needed for the device, as high a metallic shadow mask, having circular loopholes of diameter
parasitic contact resistance reduces device performance [24]. ∼300 and ∼700 μm apart. The mask was aligned to ensure
Therefore, a clear understanding of the effect of various metal contacts were not made on the junction, but were made on

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Santa Barbara. Downloaded on June 18,2021 at 07:28:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
5390 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 67, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2020

Fig. 2. (a) Combined I − V characteristics of the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si het-

erostructure devices D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5 with different metallic
contacts of Al, Ag, Au, Cu, and Pt, respectively, with the biasing voltage
applied in the range from −5 to +5 V. The figure in the inset shows
the magnified image of the reversed biased characteristics of the same
devices in the voltage range −5 to −1 V. (b) C − V characteristics of
the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure of device D2 with Ag contacts (shown
in black), D3 with Au contacts (shown in red), and D5 with Pt contacts
(shown in green) at 100-kHz frequency in the voltage range from −5 to
+5 V.
Fig. 1. (a) Flowchart of the experimental steps involved in the fabrication
of heterostructure Bi2 Te3 /n-Si devices. (b) Schematic of the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-
Si heterostructure fabricated through the steps involved in Fig. 1(a). (c) the thermal coating pores seemed to be obvious [29]. The film
XRD results for the deposited Bi2 Te3 TI film (in red) on n-Si substrate was observed to be of p-type, as confirmed by the Hall
and the bulk Bi2 Te3 compound. (d) AFM micrograph of the surface of the measurement of the film. Fig. 1(b) shows the schematic of the
Bi2 Te3 TI film (300-nm scale) on the n-Si substrate. (e) SEM micrograph
of the Bi2 Te3 TI film (200-nm scale) on n-Si substrate. p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure. Devices with different metallic
contacts of Al, Ag, Au, Cu, and Pt were labeled as D1, D2,
either side of the junction. This mask alignment ensures that D3, D4, and D5, respectively. The I − V characteristic of the
the contacts were not shorted when the voltage biasing was device [Fig. 2(a)] was obtained by applying the direct current
applied. These contacts were used as two-probe electrodes, for (dc) voltage (Vcd ) from −5 to +5 V across the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si
I − V and C V measurements using the Cascade Microtech heterojunction. The I − V characteristics of the heterojunction
probe system (Model MPS-150), at room temperature under confirmed the formation of the p-n junction diode between the
dark conditions. The metallic contacts of Al, Ag, Au, Cu, p-Bi2 Te3 film and n-Si substrate. Moreover, the metal contact
and Pt were deposited on the heterostructure device using makes ohmic contact with the Bi2 Te3 film, as well as with n-Si.
respective wires of high purity (99.999%) by thermal coating, The formation of ohmic contacts was confirmed by applying
under a high vacuum (10−6 Torr) conditions. The thickness voltage through contact on the same side of the material. For
of the contacts was ∼150 nm. The Hall measurement setup example, when the voltage was applied to the Bi2 Te3 film
(8400 series, Lake Shore Cryotronics) was used to identify contacts [Fig. 1(a)] between the contact “e” and “f” (i.e., Vef ),
the type of charge carriers in the Bi2 Te3 film, using the a linear I −V curve was obtained confirming the ohmic contact
van der Pauw method [27]. Fig. 1(a) and (b) shows the between the p-Bi2 Te3 film and metallic contacts. Similarly,
major fabrication steps involved in realizing the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si the same behavior was observed when voltage was applied
heterostructure and its schematic, respectively. between the metallic contacts “a” and “b” on the Si film
(i.e., Vab ). The diode behavior of the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si het-
III. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION erostructure was confirmed when voltage was applied across
The structure of the grown Bi2 Te3 film was studied by the the junction between the contacts “c” and “d” (i.e., Vcd ).
results obtained by XRD [Fig. 1(c)]. The peaks confirmed the Fig. 2(a) shows the combined I − V characteristics of the
polycrystalline rhombohedral phase [space group R-3m (166)] different devices and their behavior under reverse bias.
of the Bi2 Te3 film. The peak position matches with the peaks In forward bias, the I − V characteristic of a diode is
observed for the bulk Bi2 Te3 material. The intensity of the given [30] as
qV
peaks was low, in comparison to the bulk because of the I = IR (e nkT − 1). (1)
small grain size of the particles. All the peaks matched with
the standard International Center for Diffraction Data (ICDD) For sufficient forward bias voltage (V ), assuming V  kT /q,
Portable Document Format (PDF) card (No. 00-002-0524). (1) can be rearranged in differential form for n as (2), where
From the AFM, the root-mean-square (rms) roughness of the IR is the reverse saturation current, (kT /q) = VṪ (thermal
film was observed to be 6.8613 nm [Fig. 1(d)] and the crystal voltage) = 0.02586 V at T = 300 K (room temperature in
size seemed to be around 70–80 nm. The same crystal size was kelvin), k is the Boltzmann’s constant, and q is the electronic
also observed from the SEM image [Fig. 1(e)] of the Bi2 Te3 charge
film. The minimal value of rms roughness confirms the unifor- q 1
mity of the film, thereby making the film suitable for reliable n∼= dV
. (2)
kT d(ln I)
device performance. A less value of surface roughness ensures
minimum interface state density (Dit ) at the interface of the The ideality factor (n) of the devices can be determined by
metal contacts and the film [28]. The pores were observed (2), by substituting the slope obtained from the ln I versus
from the SEM image [Fig. 1(e)], as the films were grown by V plot in the linear region. In the forward bias region,

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Santa Barbara. Downloaded on June 18,2021 at 07:28:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AHMAD et al.: EFFECT OF DIFFERENT METALLIC CONTACTS ON THE DEVICE PERFORMANCE OF A p-n HETEROSTRUCTURE 5391

TABLE I
S UMMARY OF VARIOUS C ALCULATED PARAMETERS OF D EVICES W ITH
D IFFERENT M ETALLIC C ONTACTS

the I − V characteristic of a diode has a series resistance

(Rs ). Incorporating series resistance in (1), we get (3) as
q(V −I RS )
I = IR (e nkT −1) (3)
where I RS is the series resistance voltage drop. The slope of
the lnI V characteristics in the positive bias gives the value
of (1/Rs ), hence Rs can be evaluated. The reverse saturation
current (IR ) was accounted at the negative bias voltage of Fig. 3. Energy band structure alignment for the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si hetero-
−5 V, whereas maximum forward current (IF ) was obtained junction. (a) Initially before the junction formation. (b) After the junction
formation at equilibrium. (c) When the junction was forward bias, that
at a positive bias voltage of +5 V. Maximum rectification ratio is, p-Bi2 Te3 was positive biased w.r.t. n-Si. (d) When the junction was
(RR) for each diode was calculated by the ratio of current at reverse bias, that is, n-Si was positive biased w.r.t. p-Bi2 Te3 . The reverse
about +5 V (IF ) and −5 V (IR ). The magnified image of saturation current due to thermal generation of carriers is shown in the
reverse bias region. Subscript 1 notation is used for p-Bi2 Te3 and 2 for
IR is shown in the inset of Fig. 2(a) for a reverse bias from n-Si.
−1 to −5 V. From the I V results, different contact devices
can be compared with the ideal diode behavior. We observed contact devices having an RR ≈ 442, as calculated from its
a comparatively large cut-in voltage for Au metallic device I −V characteristics curve [Fig. 2(a)]. Also, the FOM of these
(D3), indicating a large potential barrier for the device. From devices calculated using (4) was found to be the best for the Pt
the I − V characteristics, the Pt contact device (D5) promised contact device (D5) with a value of FOM ≈ 2.588. However,
to be a better device with nearly ideal characteristics of the FOM for the Cu contact device (D4) was found to be the
the diode and good rectification. To quantify and compare lowest (FOM ≈ 0.022) among all the other devices. This also
the performance of our different devices, the performance shows a far from ideal behavior of the Cu contact devices.
parameters are clubbed together in the form of figure of merit The least value of FOM in D4 can be due to the lack of
(FOM) equation given as process optimization during the fabrication process. Hence,
it needs further deep research into the process optimization of
IF
FOM = γ . . (4) Cu-based diode devices. The C V curve is shown in Fig. 2(b)
IR .n.RS for the Ag (D2), Au (D3), and Pt (D5) contact devices across
The order of RS used in (4) is in kiloohms (k), whereas the their junction for forward voltage sweep from −5 to +5 V and
value of constant γ is assumed to be 1 for normalization. All for backward voltage sweep from +5 to −5 V at a frequency
the parameters of the devices are enlisted in Table I. From the of 100 kHz. The measurements were made under dark similar
results, we observe that the ideality factor for all the devices to the conditions of measurement of the I − V characteristics.
was higher than the ideal value of a diode, which is 1. This was The curve for the Ag (D2) and Pt (D5) contact devices shows
mainly due to the presence of defects, enhanced recombination almost no hysteresis, whereas the Au (D3) devices showed
in the depletion region, or edge recombination [31], [32]. some hysteresis loss as observed by the area between the
The barrier of electron injection from the negative electrode curves. The hysteresis for D3 device can be attributed to the
due to conduction band offset and also the barrier of holes trapping of electrons at the interface due to the interface states
injection due to valence band offset also contribute to the present at the Au–Bi2 Te3 interface.
high ideal factor [23]. We observed that the best fitting diode The electronic behavior of the device was tried to be
in terms of the ideality factor was observed to be for the Pt understood using energy band diagrams of the heterostruc-
(D5) and Au (D3) contact device having values of 7.00 and ture [23], [33] of p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si (Fig. 3). The initial and final
8.91, respectively, as calculated using (2). Series resistance alignment of the energy band of the heterostructure is shown
(RS ) was found to be minimum for Al (D1) and Au (D3) in Fig. 3(a) and (b) under unbiased conditions. The electron
with values of 3.61 and 7.53 k as calculated from the affinity and work function of the material are represented as
I − V curve shown in Fig. 2(a). Reverse saturation current eχ and eϕ, respectively. E c , E V , and E F denote the conduction
(IR ) for the Ag (D2), Au (D3), and Cu (D4) contact devices band, valence band, and Fermi level of the respective material.
was found to be around 5–10 μA, whereas for the Pt (D5) E g is the bandgap of the material, E c and E V are the
contact device it was minimum (0.42 μA). The RR for the conduction band offset and valence band offset, respectively.
Pt (D5) device was found to be the best among all other The positive biased p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure is shown

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Santa Barbara. Downloaded on June 18,2021 at 07:28:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
5392 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 67, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2020

in Fig. 3(c) where p-Bi2 Te3 is positively biased and n-Si is in a new form as
 
negatively biased. It behaved like a standard positively biased De (n 2i )p
p-n diode where the electrostatic potential barrier (V0 ) is IR = q A . (9)
L e NA
lowered by the respective amount of positive biasing (V )
to a value of (V − V0 ). Therefore, electrons have sufficient De in (9) is given as De = (μe kT /q) [30]; from the
energy to move from n-Si to p-Bi2 Te3 and also the holes from literature, we know electron mobility of p-Bi2 Te3 film to be
p-Bi2 Te3 to n-Si. Shifting of the n-side w.r.t to the p-side takes μe = 1200 cm2 /Vs [23] and L e = (De τe )1/2 , where the
place, which also lowers the electron injection barrier from carrier life time value (τ e ) = 50 ps [35]. n i in (9) can be
the n- to the p-side and injection of holes barrier from the calculated using (8). The value of Ns in (8) is calculated using
p- to n-side, which leads to the current in the circuit [30]. (Ns ) = ((m ∗ /m))3/2 ((T /300 K))3/2 (2.5 × 1019 / cm3 ) [30],
The current in the forward-biased p-n heterostructure is due where ((m ∗ /m)) = 0.27 [23], T = 300 K (room temperature),
to the injection of these minority carriers, which are constantly and k = 8.617 × 10−5 eV/K[36]. Using (8), the value of
replenished by the external circuit [30]. The injection of these the intrinsic carrier concentration at the room temperature is
electrons (e− ) and holes (h + ) constitutes the diffusion current calculated as n i = 6.83 × 1015 /cm3 .
in the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure given by the ideal diode The value of NA for different contact devices (D1, D2,
equation [37] as D3, D4, and D5) were calculated using (9), by substituting
     the respective value of IR and area of the devices (A) =
Dh De qV 0.0049 cm 2 . The calculated value of the majority charge carrier
I = qA pn + n p exp −1 . (5)
Lh Le kT concentration (NA ), which are the holes in this case for the
p-Bi2 Te3 film, is listed in Table I. The value of NA as seen
L h , L e is the minority carrier diffusion length and Dh , De from Table I has the order ∼ 1023 −1025 /cm3 . Almost the same
is the diffusion coefficient for h + and e− in n-Si and p-Bi2 Te3 , order (∼1023 /cm3 ) for NA was verified from the Hall measure-
respectively. pn , n p is the minority concentration on the n-side ments of the Bi2 Te3 film on n-Si substrate. The majority carrier
and p-side, respectively, and A is the area of the cross section concentration (NA ) for the devices was mostly influenced by
of the device which is the area between the two respective the defects in the Bi2 Te3 film structure which appeared during
contacts which is 0.0049 cm2 . Since the reverse saturation the film growth process. Hence, even though the Bi2 Te3 film
current [30] is given as was not conventionally doped, it was p-type due to the defects
  originating during film growth [37], [38]. Contact resistance
Dh De
(IR ) = q A pn + np . (6) also plays an important role in the conduction and transfer
Lh Le
of charge carriers [39]. The effect on the concentration of
Therefore, (5) can be written in the form of IR as charge carriers due to the interface of metal–semiconductors
    was seen earlier for the TMD layered semiconductors [39].
qV
I = I R exp −1 . (7) NA was found to be highest for the device D5 having Pt
kT contact. For the device D5, the calculated value of NA =
In reverse bias, the applied external potential [Fig. 3(d)] to 1.47 × 1025 /cm3 . An increase in the order of charge carriers
the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure is in the same direction as can be attributed to the various intrinsic defects such as
the contact potential widening of the depletion layer and Te vacancies [37], [38], structural defects, and acceptor-like
causes the majority carriers to attract toward the external surface states present at the metal–Bi2 Te3 interface, which can
potential. The diffusion current is almost negligible due to alter the electrical behavior of the device [40]. The Pt contact
the high potential barrier in reverse biasing. A small current device had the best FOM among all other metallic devices, as
which is known as the reverse saturation current (IR ) flows calculated.
independent of the reverse bias. This current (IR ) exists due The dark current of the p-n junction diode can be modeled
to the drift of the thermally generated carriers, that is, electrons by the two-diode model [26], [41] according to which the dark
(e− ) and holes (h + ) present in the depletion layer toward current J (V ) [42] is defined as
their respective n-Si and p-Bi2 Te3 side under the influence qV qV
J (V ) = J01 (e n1 kT − 1) + J02 (e n2 kT − 1) = Jd (V ) + Jr (V ).
of the applied voltage (V ). Where pn = ((n i )2n /ND ) and
n p = ((n i )2p /N A ), ND , NA are the donor and the acceptor (10)
impurity in the n-Si and p-Bi2 Te3 material, respectively, and Additionally, an ohmic parallel resistance Rpp and a series
n i is the intrinsic concentration [30] which is given as resistance Rss are also included in solar cell devices. The
  first term in (10) is the diffusion current Jd (V ) [42], having
−E g
n i = Ns exp . (8) J01 as its saturation current density and n 1 is the ideality
2kT
factor for diffusion current which is ideally equal to 1. The
In (8), NS is the effective number of states per unit vol- diffusion current represented by the first diode is affected
ume. The material Bi2 Te3 is a narrow band material having by the minority carrier lifetime in the bulk and by the
E g = 0.17 eV [34]. From (8) we can have (n i )p−Bi2 Te3  recombination at the surface. Ideally, the value of n 1 will be
(n i )n−Si , and therefore, we can use the approximation in 1 if the carrier lifetime is independent of the minority carrier
(6) as (Dh /L h ) pn  (De /L e )n p . Therefore, applying the concentration. J01 is the amount of recombination current
approximation, (6) for saturation current (IR ) can be rewritten representing the recombination process occurring in the bulk

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Santa Barbara. Downloaded on June 18,2021 at 07:28:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AHMAD et al.: EFFECT OF DIFFERENT METALLIC CONTACTS ON THE DEVICE PERFORMANCE OF A p-n HETEROSTRUCTURE 5393

and in the emitter area of the cell which is usually dominant

in higher bias. The second term in (10) is the recombination
current in the depletion region Jr (V )[42], with saturation
current density J02 and ideality factor of n 2 ; it is due to the
depletion region recombination of the p-n junction which is
dominant at relatively low voltage bias. The ideality factor n 2
for the second diode is assumed to be 2, but its value has
been seen to be greater than 2. The recombination current
Jr (V ), on the other hand, does not show any relation unlike
the diffusion current Jd (V ) and flows for the most part at
the cell edge or through extended defects present across the
junction of the p-n diode. The large ideality factor obtained
for the recombination current was due to possible multiple
level of recombinations [43]. The two-diode model uses a
series resistance Rss for all the contributing currents, that
is, diffusion, recombination, and ohmic [41]. All the current
Fig. 4. J − V curve for the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterojunction devices with
is expressed as current densities to make it independent of different metallic contacts of (a) Al (D1), (b) Ag (D2), (c) Au (D3), (d) Cu
the cell area. Rss is also expressed as area-related resistance, (D4), and (e) Pt (D5). The points show the measured data, and the fit
expressed in -cm2 . The I −V results obtained experimentally curve shows the two-diode simulation results. The n − V curve with the
measured and two-diode simulated data for different devices, (f) D2 with
were further fit by the two-diode model to extract various Ag contact, (g) D3 with Au contact, and (h) D5 with Pt contacts.
parameters such as J01 , J02 , n 1 , n 2 , Rpp , and Rss [41]. The
area of the device cell was considered to be 0.0049 cm2 , n here relates to the slope of the p-n diode’s ln I − V curve
which was the area between the two consecutive contacts in at a given point.
the device [Fig. 1(a)]. The efficiency of solar cell devices was Fig. 4 shows the two-diode model approximation of the
curtailed due to the various recombinations of electrons such solar device cell under dark conditions. Fig. 4 includes the
as the depletion region recombination, edge recombination, J − V and n − V curves that were simulated by the two-diode
and resistance-limited recombination [44]. J − V was plotted model (solid red line). The simulated data (Fig. 4) show
for different contact devices, the results of which are obtained that the data closely matched with the experimental data.
by simulation through the two-diode model. We found from The two-diode model was used instead of one-diode for the
the results of J −V (Fig. 4) that the curve for Al and Cu device simulation purpose as it provides a better approximation [41].
(D1 and D4) was more curved at around 0.5 V and varies It was observed that the value of n was greater than 2,
from the ideal J − V characteristics of the devices [43]. This indicating nonideality. The nonideality factor in the small cell
variation from ideal behavior was also inferred for the D1 and area of solar cell devices is generally caused by the resistance-
D4 devices through experimental results of I − V (Table I). limited edge recombination [44]. A small hump was observed
The J − V curve for the device with Pt contact (D5) was in the simulated results for the devices with Ag (D2) and Pt
observed to be closer to the ideal characteristic, as also evident (D5) contact in the n − V curve, at low voltage range. The
from its ideality factor derived from the I −V results (Table I). hump observed at smaller voltage range at around 0.2–0.4 V
More information about the device behavior was derived from was generally due to the resistance-limited enhanced recom-
the local ideality factor—voltage (n − V ) plot [43]. The I − V bination [44], which reduces the general efficiency of the
study of the device is incomplete without the local ideality solar cell. A smaller hump was observed for the Pt contact
factor n. The n − V curve is related to the slope of the J − V device (D5) when compared with other devices. For the Au
curve and it unravels some information which is not evident contact device (D3), the hump is comparatively higher than
from the J − V curve. The value of n is defined on the basis all the other devices indicating more recombination and high
of the relationship between the recombination current [45] and ideality factor. The various parameters derived by the simu-
voltage across the p-n junction which is exponential. A general lation of the devices using the two-diode model are listed in
relationship that defines this recombination mechanism [46] Table II.
can be expressed by (11) as [44] We observed for the devices D1, D2, D3, and D4 that
 
V the value of J02  J01 [44], and hence J02 which rep-
I α exp . (11) resents the recombination current becomes dominant and
n r VT
hence the current flows through the second diode D02 , rather
Here, n r [44] value depends on the recombination mechanism
than D01 [44]. Therefore, the recombination which is given
and the level of minority doping (injection level) [44]. It is
as exp((V /2VT )) [44] was dominant, and hence the series
useful to fit (11) by putting the value of n r = n assuming it to
resistant Rss becomes significant at a higher voltage. This type
be a free variable. Through extracting the slope of the ln I − V
of recombination was detrimental to the efficiency of the solar
curve at each point, 1/nVT is obtained, and therefore, n [44]
cell devices [37], [40] and it reduces the efficiency of our
is given as
  devices. From previous studies of solar cell devices, it was also
1 dV 1 dV seen that the reduction in efficiency of the solar cells due to the
n= = . (12)
VT d(ln I )) VT d I recombination current depends on the relative difference in the

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Santa Barbara. Downloaded on June 18,2021 at 07:28:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
5394 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 67, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2020

TABLE II p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure diode. The experimental results

S UMMARY OF VARIOUS T WO -D IODE S IMULATED PARAMETERS OF for different contact devices were further fit with the two-diode
D EVICES W ITH D IFFERENT M ETALLIC C ONTACTS
model to extract various parameters of the diode. The J − V
curve for the Al and Cu was observed to be curved and
varies from the ideal behavior, while the Pt contact device
was comparatively closer to the ideal. The n − V curve for the
devices with different metallic contacts gives insight into the
recombination mechanism in these devices. For the Pt contact
device, we found J02 < 3 × 10−9 A/cm2 , implying that the
recombination current has no major influence on the device
efficiency and near-ideal behavior of the diode. Therefore,
the Pt contact device was found to be best in our analysis for
the p-Bi2 Te3 /n-Si heterostructure diode. The findings of this
article are significant for the potential solar cell fabrication
using a TI (Bi2 Te3 ) and silicon.
value of J01 and J02 [44]. As seen in previous studies of bulk
crystalline solar cells that the value of J01 ∼ 10−13 A/cm2 R EFERENCES
[44], but it is negligibly low here (∼ 10−30 − 10−50 A/cm2 ) in [1] D. Martín-Martín, E. García-Tabarés, and I. Rey-Stolle, “Assess-
comparison to the value of J02 . For a larger value of J02 , the ment of rear-surface processing strategies for III–V on Si multijunc-
efficiency of the devices varies inversely on the value of J02 , tion solar cells based on numerical simulations,” IEEE Trans. Elec-
tron Devices, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 252–258, Jan. 2016, doi: 10.1109/
thereby it reduces with the increase in the value of J02 [39]. TED.2015.2498527.
For the device with Pt contact (D5), we observed the value [2] D. Ananthanarayanan, J. Wong, E.-C. Wang, N. Chen, J. W. Ho,
of J02 = 9.7 × 10−17 A/cm2 and the ideality factor close to and A. G. Aberle, “Determination of metal-induced recombination
of n-type bifacial Si solar cells using special print patterns,” IEEE
“1” (Table II). The near-ideal I − V characteristics of the Pt J. Photovolt., vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 643–651, May 2019, doi: 10.1109/
contact (D5) device was due to reduced recombination current JPHOTOV.2019.2903177.
density as J02 < 3 × 10−9 A/cm2 [44] which was not able to [3] C. G. Lim, “Characteristics of planar and conformal contact GaAs
core–shell nanowire array solar cells,” IEEE Trans. Electron Devices,
influence much the efficiency of the devices in dark, as also vol. 64, no. 9, pp. 3696–3705, Sep. 2017, doi: 10.1109/TED.
observed in earlier studies [44]. The recombination mechanism 2017.2727070.
for our devices has a behavior of exp((V /2VT )), which was [4] M. Chen et al., “Profiling light absorption enhancement in two-
dimensional photonic-structured perovskite solar cells,” IEEE J. Photo-
due to the Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) recombination at the volt., vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 1324–1328, Sep. 2017, doi: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.
edges [44]. The experimental study of the crystalline solar cells 2017.2719759.
in the past has demonstrated that the most likely cause of the [5] R. Nunez et al., “Spectral impact on multijunction solar cells obtained
by means of component cells of a different technology,” IEEE
recombination current was due to the SRH recombination at J. Photovolt., vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 646–653, Mar. 2018, doi: 10.1109/
the edges [44]. JPHOTOV.2017.2782561.
[6] S. Maity and T. Thomas, “Hole-collecting treated graphene layer
IV. C ONCLUSION and PTB7:PC71BM-based bulk-heterojunction OPV with improved
carrier collection and photovoltaic efficiency,” IEEE Trans. Electron
A thin film of p-Bi2 Te3 TI film was grown on n-Si to Devices, vol. 65, no. 10, pp. 4548–4554, Oct. 2018, doi: 10.1109/
TED.2018.2864537.
realize a p-n heterostructure under high vacuum conditions [7] J. Kumar et al., “Chalcogen-assisted enhanced atomic orbital interaction
by thermal coating. The XRD study confirmed the crystal at TMD–Metal interface and sulfur passivation for overall performance
phases of the Bi2 Te3 film, while the microstructures and boost of 2-D TMD FETs,” IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 67, no. 2,
pp. 717–724, Feb. 2020, doi: 10.1109/TED.2019.2958338.
morphology were examined by SEM and AFM. The p-type
[8] J. Y. Park et al., “Contact effect of ReS2 /metal interface,” ACS Appl.
charge carriers were confirmed by Hall measurements. For Mater. Interfaces, vol. 9, no. 31, pp. 26325–26332, Aug. 2017, doi: 10.
analyzing the impact of different metal contacts on the device 1021/acsami.7b06432.
performance, the I − V and C − V measurements were done [9] J. Kang, W. Liu, D. Sarkar, D. Jena, and K. Banerjee, “Computational
study of metal contacts to monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenide
in the dark for all the devices. The C − V characteristic for semiconductors,” Phys. Rev. X, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 1–14, Jul. 2014, doi: 10.
the devices showed almost no hysteresis except for the Au 1103/PhysRevX.4.031005.
device, which could be due to the trapping of electrons at the [10] Q. Zhou, M. Xu, Q. Li, and H. Wang, “Improved efficiency of
GaN-based green LED by a nano-micro complex patterned sapphire
interface. The I − V results confirmed the formation of the substrate,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 29, no. 12, pp. 983–986,
p-n diode across the heterostructure. Different parameters of Jun. 15, 2017, doi: 10.1109/LPT.2017.2700854.
the diodes were extracted from the experimental I − V results [11] B. Duan, Z. Cao, S. Yuan, and Y. Yang, “Complete 3D-reduced surface
field superjunction lateral double-diffused MOSFET breaking silicon
for different metallic contact heterostructures. We observed a limit,” IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 36, no. 12, pp. 1348–1350,
better ideality factor of 7.00 and 8.91 for the Pt and Au contact Dec. 2015, doi: 10.1109/LED.2015.2493080.
devices, respectively. The best FOM ≈ 2.588 was found for [12] R. Frisenda, A. J. Molina-Mendoza, T. Mueller, A. Castellanos-Gomez,
and H. S. J. van der Zant, “Atomically thin p–n junctions based on two-
the Pt contact device, with the maximum RR ≈ 442 and dimensional materials,” Chem. Soc. Rev., vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 3339–3358,
majority charge carrier concentration (NA )= 1.47×1025 /cm3 . 2018, doi: 10.1039/C7CS00880E.
The FOM for the Cu contact device was found to be the [13] M. F. Ali and M. F. Hossain, “Effect of bandgap of EBL on efficiency
of the p–n homojunction Si solar cell from numerical analysis,” in
lowest among all the contact devices with FOM ≈ 0.022, Proc. Int. Conf. Electr. Electron. Eng. (ICEEE), Nov. 2015, pp. 245–248,
because it is far away from the typical behavior of the doi: 10.1109/CEEE.2015.7428268.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Santa Barbara. Downloaded on June 18,2021 at 07:28:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
AHMAD et al.: EFFECT OF DIFFERENT METALLIC CONTACTS ON THE DEVICE PERFORMANCE OF A p-n HETEROSTRUCTURE 5395

[14] S. Kumar, P. Bhushan, and S. Bhattacharya, “Fabrication of nanos- [30] S. M. Sze and K. K. Ng, Physics of Semiconductor Devices. Hoboken,
tructures with bottom-up approach and their utility in diagnostics, NJ, USA: Wiley, 2006, doi: 10.1002/0470068329.
therapeutics, and others,” in Environmental, Chemical and Medical [31] R. S. Ajimsha, K. A. Vanaja, M. K. Jayaraj, P. Misra, V. K. Dixit,
Sensors. Singapore: Springer, 2018, pp. 167–198, doi: 10.1007/978-981- and L. M. Kukreja, “Transparent p-AgCoO2 /n-ZnO diode heterojunction
10-7751-7_8. fabricated by pulsed laser deposition,” Thin Solid Films, vol. 515, no. 18,
[15] J. Xie, Q. Chen, H. Shen, and G. Li, “Wearable graphene devices for pp. 7352–7356, Jun. 2007, doi: 10.1016/j.tsf.2007.03.002.
sensing,” J. Electrochem. Soc., vol. 167, no. 3, p. 37541, 2020, doi: [32] Y. Zhang et al., “Demonstration of a 2 kV Al0.85 Ga0.15 N Schottky
10.1149/1945-7111/ab67a4. barrier diode with improved on-current and ideality factor,” IEEE
[16] M. Z. Hasan and C. L. Kane, “Colloquium: Topological insulators,” Electron Device Lett., vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 457–460, Mar. 2020, doi: 10.
Rev. Modern Phys., vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 3045–3067, Nov. 2010, doi: 1109/LED.2020.2967895.
10.1103/RevModPhys.82.3045. [33] R. Kumar et al., “Flexible perylenediimide/GaN organic–inorganic
[17] H. Mamur, M. R. A. Bhuiyan, F. Korkmaz, and M. Nil, “A review hybrid system with exciting optical and interfacial properties,” Sci. Rep.,
on bismuth telluride (Bi2 Te3 ) nanostructure for thermoelectric applica- vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1–11, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-67531-3.
tions,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 82, pp. 4159–4169, Feb. 2018, [34] G. A. Thomas et al., “Large electronic-density increase on cooling a
doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.10.112. layered metal: Doped Bi2 Te3 ,” Phys. Rev. B, Condens. Matter, vol. 46,
[18] F. Ahmad, S. Singh, S. K. Pundir, R. Kumar, K. Kandpal, and P. Kumar, no. 3, pp. 1553–1556, Jul. 1992, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.46.1553.
“Effect of doping and annealing on thermoelectric properties of bis- [35] M. Hajlaoui et al., “Tuning a Schottky barrier in a photoexcited topolog-
muth telluride thin films,” J. Electron. Mater., vol. 49, pp. 4195–4202, ical insulator with transient dirac cone electron-hole asymmetry,” Nature
Apr. 2020, doi: 10.1007/s11664-020-08126-6. Commun., vol. 5, no. 1, p. 3003, May 2014, doi: 10.1038/ncomms4003.
[19] H. B. Zhang, H. Li, J. M. Shao, S. W. Li, D. H. Bao, and [36] P. J. Mohr, B. N. Taylor, and D. B. Newell, “CODATA recommended
G. W. Yang, “High-performance Bi2 Te3 -based topological insulator film values of the fundamental physical constants: 2006,” J. Phys. Chem.
magnetic field detector,” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, vol. 5, no. 22, Reference Data, vol. 80, no. 3, pp. 633–1284, 2008, doi: 10.1063/1.
pp. 11503–11508, Nov. 2013, doi: 10.1021/am403634u. 2844785.
[20] D. M. Rowe, CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics. Boca Raton, FL, USA: [37] J.-M. Lin, Y.-C. Chen, and C.-P. Lin, “Annealing effect on the thermo-
CRC Press, 2018. electric properties of Bi2 Te3 thin films prepared by thermal evaporation
[21] Z. Wang, M. Li, L. Yang, Z. Zhang, and X. P. A. Gao, “Broadband method,” J. Nanomater., vol. 2013, pp. 1–6, Nov. 2013, doi: 10.1155/
photovoltaic effect of n-type topological insulator Bi2 Te3 films on p- 2013/201017.
type Si substrates,” Nano Res., vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 1872–1879, Jun. 2017, [38] D. Teweldebrhan, V. Goyal, and A. A. Balandin, “Exfoliation and
doi: 10.1007/s12274-016-1369-2. characterization of bismuth telluride atomic quintuples and quasi-
[22] R. Singh et al., “Material study of Co2 CrAl heusler alloy magnetic thin two-dimensional crystals,” Nano Lett., vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 1209–1218,
film and Co2 CrAl/n-Si Schottky junction device,” J. Electron. Mater., Apr. 2010, doi: 10.1021/nl903590b.
vol. 49, no. 6, pp. 3652–3658, Jun. 2020, doi: 10.1007/s11664-020- [39] D. Jena, K. Banerjee, and G. H. Xing, “2D crystal semiconductors:
08067-0. Intimate contacts,” Nature Mater., vol. 13, no. 12, pp. 1076–1078, 2014,
[23] F. Ahmad, R. Singh, P. K. Misra, N. Kumar, R. Kumar, and doi: 10.1038/nmat4121.
P. Kumar, “Fabrication of a p–n heterojunction using topologi- [40] C. M. Smyth, R. Addou, S. McDonnell, C. L. Hinkle, and R. M. Wallace,
cal insulator Bi2 Te3 –Si and its annealing response,” J. Electron. “Contact metal–MoS2 interfacial reactions and potential implications on
Mater., vol. 47, no. 12, pp. 6972–6983, Dec. 2018, doi: 10.1007/ MoS2 -based device performance,” J. Phys. Chem. C, vol. 120, no. 27,
s11664-018-6609-7. pp. 14719–14729, Jul. 2016, doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b04473.
[24] Y. Deng, N. J. Conrad, Z. Luo, H. Liu, X. Xu, and P. D. Ye, [41] O. Breitenstein and S. Rißland, “A two-diode model regarding the
“Towards high-performance two-dimensional black phosphorus distributed series resistance,” Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, vol. 110,
optoelectronic devices: The role of metal contacts,” in IEDM pp. 77–86, Mar. 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.solmat.2012.11.021.
Tech. Dig., Dec. 2014, pp. 5.2.1–5.2.4, doi: 10.1109/IEDM.2014. [42] O. Breitenstein, “Nondestructive local analysis of current–voltage char-
7046987. acteristics of solar cells by lock-in thermography,” Sol. Energy Mater.
[25] W. Zhang, M.-H. Chiu, C.-H. Chen, W. Chen, L.-J. Li, and A. T. S. Wee, Sol. Cells, vol. 95, no. 10, pp. 2933–2936, 2011.
“Role of metal contacts in high-performance phototransistors based on [43] O. Breitenstein, J. Bauer, P. P. Altermatt, and K. Ramspeck, “Influ-
WSe2 monolayers,” ACS Nano, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 8653–8661, Aug. 2014, ence of defects on solar cell characteristics,” Solid State Phenomena,
doi: 10.1021/nn503521c. vols. 156–158, pp. 1–10, Oct. 2009, doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/
[26] S. Suckow. (2014). 2/3-Diode Fit. [Online]. Available: http:// SSP.156-158.1.
nanohub.org/resources/14300 [44] K. R. McIntosh, “Lumps, humps and bumps: Three detrimen-
[27] A. Nathan and W. Allegretto, “Geometric factor for Hall mobility tal effects in the current–voltage curve of silicon solar cells,
characterization using the van der Pauw dual configuration,” IEEE in: Centre for photovoltaic engineering,” School Elect. Eng.,
Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 40, no. 8, pp. 1508–1511, Aug. 1993, doi: Dept. Eng., Univ. New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia,
10.1109/16.223712. Tech. Rep., Feb. 2008, p. 171. [Online]. Available: http://unsworks.
[28] S. Kasap and P. Capper, Springer Handbook of Electronic and unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:35640/SOURCE01?view=true
Photonic Materials. New York, NY, USA: Springer-Verlag, [45] S. J. Robinson, A. G. Aberle, and M. A. Green, “Recombination
2007. saturation effects in silicon solar cells,” IEEE Trans. Electron Devices,
[29] V. Nádaždy, R. Durný, J. Puigdollers, C. Voz, S. Cheylan, and M. Weis, vol. 41, no. 9, pp. 1556–1569, Sep. 1994, doi: 10.1109/16.310107.
“Defect states in pentacene thin films prepared by thermal evaporation [46] D. Macdonald and A. Cuevas, “Reduced fill factors in multicrystalline
and Langmuir–Blodgett technique,” J. Non-Crystalline Solids, vol. 354, silicon solar cells due to injection-level dependent bulk recombination
nos. 19–25, pp. 2888–2891, May 2008, doi: 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol. lifetimes,” Prog. Photovolt. Res. Appl., vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 363–375, 2000,
2007.10.095. doi: 10.1002/1099-159X.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Santa Barbara. Downloaded on June 18,2021 at 07:28:22 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.