Open Access Nano Express

Atomistic simulations of the optical absorption of type-II CdSe/ZnTe superlattices

Soline Boyer-Richard1*, Cédric Robert1, Lionel Gérard2, Jan-Peter Richters3, Régis André2, Joël Bleuse3, Henri Mariette2, Jacky Even1 and Jean-Marc Jancu1

Author Affiliations

1 Université Européenne de Bretagne, INSA, FOTON, UMR 6082, Rennes, 35708, France

2 Nanophysics and Semiconductors Group, Institut Néel-CNRS, Grenoble, 38042, France

3 Nanophysics and Semiconductor Group, CEA/Université Joseph Fourier, CEA/INAC/SP2M, Grenoble, 38054, France

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Nanoscale Research Letters 2012, 7:543 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-7-543

Published: 2 October 2012

Abstract

We perform accurate tight binding simulations to design type-II short-period CdSe/ZnTe superlattices suited for photovoltaic applications. Absorption calculations demonstrate a very good agreement with optical results with threshold strongly depending on the chemical species near interfaces.

Keywords:
Type-II transition; Superlattice; ZnTe/CdSe; Absorption; Tight-binding; 73.21.Cd; 78.67.Pt; 78.66.Hf