We report the tunnel current through a miniband in In(0.4)Ga(0.6)As quantum dot (QD) superlattice solar cells fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy. High-quality and well-aligned In(0.4)Ga(0.6)As QD superlattice structures with an interdot spacing of 3.5 nm were grown without using a strain balancing technique. 10-stack In(0.4)Ga(0.6)As QD superlattice solar cells had a high open circuit voltage and good cell characteristics even when the interdot spacing was reduced to 3.5 nm. Moreover, a short-circuit current density increases as the interdot spacing decreases. From the temperature dependence of the external quantum efficiency for QD solar cells with different interdot spacings, we observed the tunnel current through a miniband in QD superlattices with an interdot spacing of 3.5 nm. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
