High-Efficiency InGaN Photo Cell Irradiated by 532 nm Laser with AlGaN Electron Blocking Layer

Abstract

In this paper, a high-efficiency InGaN photo cell irradiated by 532 nm laser (at green wavelength) with AlGaN electron blocking layer (EBL) is proposed based on the blue-green light window effect of seawater. Firstly, the InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) structured material intercalated with AlGaN EBL was designed and grown for InGaN photo cells. Then, by measuring the AFM, XRD and PL of the material, it is found that the insertion of AlGaN EBL can effectively reduce the defect density and improve the steepness of the interface in the active region. Further, based on the above material characteristics, the performance of the InGaN photo cells with AlGaN EBL is evaluated in Silvaco software under 532 nm laser irradiation. The results show that the introduction of AlGaN EBL in InGaN photo cell can not only decrease the non-radiative recombination rates, but also reduce the piezoelectric polarization effect, which contribute to the transport of effective photo-generated carriers and eventually improve the conversion efficiency by 13.325% compared to that with conventional structure. These findings provide critical new insights on high-efficiency GaN-based Photo Cell irradiated by 532 nm laser in the application of underwater communications.