Date of Award

2012

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Awarded

Master of Science (MS)

Program

Physics

Department

Physics

College

Science and Mathematics

Faculty Advisor

Marinov, Val

Description

The focus of the research work described in the following thesis is increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic devices by reducing hot carrier thermalization losses. In principle this can be achieved by reducing the size of the absorber down to lengths comparable to the thermalization length for hot carriers. With the use of ultrathin absorbers hot carrier can be collected before they have reached thermal equilibrium with the lattice. The theoretical work on the subject is comprised of improving the empirical relationship developed in the most recent publication on the topic by. By making the assumption that the energy loss rate fits the exponential decay model, an expression for the energy as a function of absorber thickness was developed. The experimental work consist of fabricating devices with different absorber thicknesses and testing their ability to show change in performance due to collection of hot electrons.

Rights

NDSU Policy 190.6.2

Rights Link

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Handle Identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26800

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