A PEEK ON the lab

Institute of Nanotechnology of Lyon
(INL, France)

Contacts: José PENUELAS, jose.penuelas@ec-lyon.fr – Philippe REGRENY, philippe.regreny@ec-lyon.fr – Nicolas CHAUVIN, nicolas.chauvin@insa-lyon.fr – Alain FAVE, alain.fave@insa-lyon.fr

Web-site:

LAB and RESEARCH

The Nanowire group works on the synthesis and derived associated characterisations such as Photoluminescence and Atomic Force Microscopy at nanometer scales, with the objective of developing devices for nano-energy applications, such as solar cells, thermo- and piezo-electric generators.

In this image, we can take a look at the synthesis laboratory occupied by a large reactor for molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

In this lab, Silicon, Gallium Arsenide or Gallium-Aluminum-Arsenide nanowires are synthesized for energy harvesting applications.

Sample fabricated by Marco Vettori and Xiao Li. For more details see http://www.theses.fr/2019LYSEC010

III-V nanowires fabricated at INL by molecular beam epitaxy technique

These scanning electron microscopy image show an array of epitaxial nanowire grown on silicon substrate.

The nanowires consist in a complex heterojunction of GaAs, AlGaAs and AlInP materials with different doping in order to achieve an efficient charge separation and collection.

After the growth, the nanowire were passivated in an insulating matrix to protect them from the environment and finally a top contact made of a transparent conducting oxide was deposited to finalize the solar cell.

PEOPLE and LIFE

Two young researchers working on the Molecular Beam Epitaxy reactor of Lyon Institute of Nanotechnology at Ecole Centrale de Lyon.

Growing Arrays of Semiconducting Nanowires

Iuliia and Marc are growing arrays of semiconducting nanowires on silicon for the next generation of solar cells. They are working on a molecular beam epitaxy reactors which allow the synthesis of high quality crystalline materials such as nanowires.