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Black GaAs by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching

Lova, P; Robbiano, V; Cacialli, F; Comoretto, D; Soci, C; (2018) Black GaAs by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces , 10 (39) pp. 33434-33440. 10.1021/acsami.8b10370. Green open access

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Abstract

Large area surface microstructuring is commonly employed to suppress light reflection and enhance light absorption in silicon photovoltaic devices, photodetectors, and image sensors. To date, however, there are no simple means to control the surface roughness of III-V semiconductors by chemical processes similar to the metal-assisted chemical etching of black Si. Here, we demonstrate the anisotropic metal-assisted chemical etching of GaAs wafers exploiting the lower etching rate of the monoatomic Ga<111> and <311> planes. By studying the dependence of this process on different crystal orientations, we propose a qualitative reaction mechanism responsible for the self-limiting anisotropic etching and show that the reflectance of the roughened surface of black GaAs reduces up to ∼50 times compared to polished wafers, nearly doubling its absorption. This method provides a new, simple, and scalable way to enhance light absorption and power conversion efficiency of GaAs solar cells and photodetectors.

Type: Article
Title: Black GaAs by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b10370
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b10370
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: III−V semiconductors, anisotropic etching, black GaAs, metal-assisted chemical etching, perfect antireflection
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10059695
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