Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy Cross-Sectional Measurements of Crystalline GaAs Solar Cells

Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) was used to study cleaved edges of GaAs solar cell devices. Using visible light for excitation, the NSOM acquired spatially resolved traces of the photocurrent response across the various layers in the device. For excitation energies well above the band gap, carrier recombination at the cleaved surface had a strong influence on the photocurrent signal. Decreasing the excitation energy, which increased the optical penetration depth, allowed the effects of surface recombination to be separated from collection by the pn junction. Using this approach, the NSOM measurements directly observed the effects of a buried minority carrier reflector/passivation layer.