Surface passivation of GaAs nanowire ensembles for photovoltaic applications

Fabrication, electrical characterization and analytical modeling of an AllnP-passivated GaAs NW ensemble is presented. Novel processing steps were used to fabricate NW ensemble devices which were subsequently characterized electrically and fit with an analytical model, showing a 48% reduction in interface state density and an impressive four order of magnitude increase in effective carrier concentration of the NWs, rivaling the performance of other passivation schemes reported in the literature. This is the first known report of surface passivation of a NW ensemble device with a III-V shell and demonstrated by electrical characterization of a whole ensemble of NWs.