Optically thick GaInAs/GaAsP strain-balanced quantum-well tandem solar cells with 29.2% efficiency under the AM0 space spectrum

France, Ryan M.; Selvidge, Jennifer; Mukherjee, Kunal; Steiner, Myles A.

doi:10.1063/5.0125998

Title: Optically thick GaInAs/GaAsP strain-balanced quantum-well tandem solar cells with 29.2% efficiency under the AM0 space spectrum

Journal Article · Tue Nov 08 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0125998· OSTI ID:1903182

^[1];

^[2];

^[3];

^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

GaAs is often used as a multijunction subcell due to its high material quality on GaAs substrates, despite having a non-optimal bandgap. The bandgap can be beneficially reduced using many layers of thin, strain-balanced GaInAs in a superlattice or quantum well device, but achieving excellent carrier collection without increased recombination has proven challenging. Here, we develop and demonstrate high performance, optically thick GaInAs/GaAsP strain-balanced solar cells. Excellent material quality is achieved in thick superlattices by using growth conditions that limit progressive thickness and composition fluctuations. Bandgap-voltage offsets as low as 0.31 V are shown in superlattice cells using thin, highly strained GaP barriers. Optically thick superlattice cells with over 2500 nm of total GaInAs in the depletion region are developed, enabling 3.8 mA/cm ² of extra photocurrent beyond the GaAs band edge under the AM0 space spectrum. Optimized superlattice solar cells are incorporated into two-junction devices that achieve 29.2% efficiency under the AM0 space spectrum due to their improved bandgap combination and high subcell voltages.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; 34358

OSTI ID:: 1903182

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1897571

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-83983; MainId:84756; UUID:b6b1d767-300f-4870-9932-99861342f57c; MainAdminID:68201; TRN: US2311268

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 132, Issue 18; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (46)

A quantum-well superlattice solar cell for enhanced current output and minimized drop in open-circuit voltage under sunlight concentration Sugiyama, Masakazu; Wang, Yunpeng; Fujii, Hiromasa Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 46, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/46/2/024001	journal	December 2012
Measuring IV Curves and Subcell Photocurrents in the Presence of Luminescent Coupling Steiner, Myles A.; Geisz, John F.; Moriarty, Tom E. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2228298	journal	April 2013
Generalized Optoelectronic Model of Series-Connected Multijunction Solar Cells Geisz, John F.; Steiner, Myles A.; Garcia, Ivan IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2015.2478072	journal	November 2015
Quantum well solar cells Barnham, K. W. J.; Ballard, I.; Connolly, J. P. Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures, Vol. 14, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1386-9477(02)00356-9	journal	April 2002
Reciprocity relation between photovoltaic quantum efficiency and electroluminescent emission of solar cells Rau, Uwe Physical Review B, Vol. 76, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.76.085303	journal	August 2007
Self-Organization in Growth of Quantum Dot Superlattices Tersoff, J.; Teichert, C.; Lagally, M. G. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 76, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.1675	journal	March 1996
A new approach to high‐efficiency multi‐band‐gap solar cells Barnham, K. W. J.; Duggan, G. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 67, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.345339	journal	April 1990
Semiconductor Wafer Bonding Gösele, U.; Tong, Q. -Y. Annual Review of Materials Science, Vol. 28, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.matsci.28.1.215	journal	August 1998
The Stability of a Dislocation Threading a Strained Layer on a Substrate Freund, L. B. Journal of Applied Mechanics, Vol. 54, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3173068	journal	September 1987
Radiation resistance of high-efficiency InGaP/GaAs tandem solar cells Takamoto, Tatsuya; Yamaguchi, Masafumi; Taylor, Stephen J. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 58, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0248(99)00003-3	journal	July 1999
Quantum well carrier sweep out: relation to electroabsorption and exciton saturation Fox, A. M.; Miller, D. A. B.; Livescu, G. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 27, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1109/3.97272	journal	January 1991
Carrier Transport and Improved Collection in Thin-Barrier InGaAs/GaAsP Strained Quantum Well Solar Cells Bradshaw, Geoffrey K.; Carlin, C. Zachary; Samberg, Joshua P. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2216858	journal	January 2013
100-period, 1.23-eV bandgap InGaAs/GaAsP quantum wells for high-efficiency GaAs solar cells: toward current-matched Ge-based tandem cells: 100-period, 1.23-eV bandgap InGaAs/GaAsP quantum wells Fujii, Hiromasa; Toprasertpong, Kasidit; Wang, Yunpeng Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 22, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2454	journal	December 2013
GaInAs/GaAs quantum-well growth assisted by Sb surfactant: Toward 1.3 μm emission Harmand, J. C.; Li, L. H.; Patriarche, G. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 84, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1751221	journal	May 2004
Effect of quantum well location on single quantum well p-i-n photodiode dark currents Nelson, Jenny; Ballard, Ian; Barnham, Keith Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 86, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.371609	journal	November 1999
Surfactant-mediated growth of InGaAs multiple-quantum-well lasers emitting at 2.1μm by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy Sato, Tomonari; Mitsuhara, Manabu; Watanabe, Takao Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2133920	journal	November 2005
Critical thickness of atomically ordered III-V alloys France, R. M.; McMahon, W. E.; Guthrey, H. L. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4933092	journal	October 2015
Enhanced external radiative efficiency for 20.8% efficient single-junction GaInP solar cells Geisz, J. F.; Steiner, M. A.; García, I. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4816837	journal	July 2013
Self-organized growth of alloy superlattices Venezuela, P.; Tersoff, J.; Floro, J. A. Nature, Vol. 397, Issue 6721 https://doi.org/10.1038/17767	journal	February 1999
Steady-state carrier escape from single quantum wells Nelson, J.; Paxman, M.; Barnham, K. W. J. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 29, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1109/3.234396	journal	June 1993
Triple-junction solar cells with 39.5% terrestrial and 34.2% space efficiency enabled by thick quantum well superlattices France, Ryan M.; Geisz, John F.; Song, Tao Joule, Vol. 6, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2022.04.024	journal	May 2022
The growth of GaInAs/InP and GaInAs/AlInAs superlattices with thin barrier layers by low pressure organometallic chemical vapor deposition Bhat, R.; Koza, M. A.; Hwang, D. M. Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 110, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0248(91)90271-6	journal	March 1991
Improvement of front-junction GaInP by point-defect injection and annealing France, Ryan M.; Hinojosa, Manuel; Ahrenkiel, S. Phil 2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9519022	conference	June 2021
Analysis of tandem solar cell efficiencies under AM1.5G spectrum using a rapid flux calculation method Bremner, S. P.; Levy, M. Y.; Honsberg, C. B. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 16, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.799	journal	May 2008
Quantum Well Solar Cells: Principles, Recent Progress, and Potential Sayed, Islam; Bedair, S. M. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 9, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2019.2892079	journal	March 2019
Carrier Escape Time and Temperature-Dependent Carrier Collection Efficiency of Tunneling-Enhanced Multiple Quantum Well Solar Cells Toprasertpong, Kasidit; Fujii, Hiromasa; Wang, Yunpeng IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 4, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2293877	journal	March 2014
High Efficiency Inverted GaAs and GaInP/GaAs Solar Cells With Strain‐Balanced GaInAs/GaAsP Quantum Wells Steiner, Myles A.; France, Ryan M.; Buencuerpo, Jeronimo Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 11, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202002874	journal	December 2020
Design and Demonstration of High-Efficiency Quantum Well Solar Cells Employing Thin Strained Superlattices Welser, Roger E.; Polly, Stephen J.; Kacharia, Mitsul Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50321-x	journal	September 2019
Sb surfactant effect on GaInAs/GaAs highly strained quantum well lasers emitting at 1200 nm range grown by molecular beam epitaxy Kageyama, Takeo; Miyamoto, Tomoyuki; Ohta, Masataka Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 96, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1760841	journal	July 2004
Step-Bunching Instability of Vicinal Surfaces under Stress Tersoff, J.; Phang, Y. H.; Zhang, Zhenyu Physical Review Letters, Vol. 75, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.2730	journal	October 1995
Dislocations in strained-layer epitaxy: theory, experiment, and applications Fitzgerald, E. A. Materials Science Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/0920-2307(91)90006-9	journal	November 1991
Advances in Bragg stack quantum well solar cells Johnson, D. C.; Ballard, I.; Barnham, K. W. J. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 87, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2004.09.014	journal	May 2005
Management of highly-strained heterointerface in InGaAs/GaAsP strain-balanced superlattice for photovoltaic application Wang, Yun Peng; Ma, Shao Jun; Watanabe, Kentarou Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 352, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2011.12.049	journal	August 2012
Progress and challenges for next-generation high-efficiency multijunction solar cells Friedman, D. J. Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, Vol. 14, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cossms.2010.07.001	journal	December 2010
Wafer bonded four-junction GaInP/GaAs//GaInAsP/GaInAs concentrator solar cells with 44.7% efficiency: Wafer bonded four-junction concentrator solar cells with 44.7% efficiency Dimroth, Frank; Grave, Matthias; Beutel, Paul Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 22, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2475	journal	January 2014
Spontaneous lateral phase separation of AlInP during thin film growth and its effect on luminescence Mukherjee, Kunal; Norman, Andrew G.; Akey, Austin J. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4930990	journal	September 2015
Recent results for single-junction and tandem quantum well solar cells Adams, J. G. J.; Browne, B. C.; Ballard, I. M. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 19, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.1069	journal	January 2011
Multijunction Solar Cells With Graded Buffer Bragg Reflectors France, Ryan M.; Espinet-Gonzalez, Pilar; Ekins-Daukes, Nicholas J. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 8, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2869550	journal	November 2018
Strain-Balanced Criteria for Multiple Quantum Well Structures and Its Signature in X-ray Rocking Curves ^† Ekins-Daukes, N. J.; Kawaguchi, K.; Zhang, J. Crystal Growth & Design, Vol. 2, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/cg025502y	journal	July 2002
Metamorphic epitaxy for multijunction solar cells France, Ryan M.; Dimroth, Frank; Grassman, Tyler J. MRS Bulletin, Vol. 41, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2016.25	journal	March 2016
Six-junction III–V solar cells with 47.1% conversion efficiency under 143 Suns concentration Geisz, John F.; France, Ryan M.; Schulte, Kevin L. Nature Energy, Vol. 5, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0598-5	journal	April 2020
Short-circuit current enhancement in Bragg stack multi-quantum-well solar cells for multi-junction space cell applications Bushnell, D.; Ekinsdaukes, N.; Barnham, K. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 75, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0248(02)00172-1	journal	January 2003
Strained and strain-balanced quantum well devices for high-efficiency tandem solar cells Ekins-Daukes, N. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 68, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0248(00)00346-9	journal	April 2001
Graded buffer Bragg reflectors with high reflectivity and transparency for metamorphic optoelectronics France, R. M.; Buencuerpo, J.; Bradsby, M. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 129, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0050588	journal	May 2021
Effect of strain relaxation on forward bias dark currents in GaAs/InGaAs multiquantum well p – i – n diodes Griffin, P. R.; Barnes, J.; Barnham, K. W. J. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 80, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.363574	journal	November 1996
Elimination of wavy layer growth phenomena in strain-compensated GaInAsP/GaInAsP multiple quantum well stacks Glew, R. W.; Scarrott, K.; Briggs, A. T. R. Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 145, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0248(94)91140-1	journal	December 1994

Similar Records

Triple-junction solar cells with 39.5% terrestrial and 34.2% space efficiency enabled by thick quantum well superlattices

Journal Article · Wed May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Joule · OSTI ID:1903182

France, Ryan M.; Geisz, John F.; Song, Tao; +4 more

Record Efficiency Multijunction Solar Cells with Strain-Balanced Quantum Well Superlattices

Conference · Fri Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · OSTI ID:1903182

Steiner, Myles A.; France, Ryan M.

High Efficiency Inverted GaAs and GaInP/GaAs Solar Cells With Strain-Balanced GaInAs/GaAsP Quantum Wells

Journal Article · Sun Dec 13 00:00:00 EST 2020 · Advanced Energy Materials · OSTI ID:1903182

Steiner, Myles A.; France, Ryan M.; Buencuerpo, Jeronimo; +6 more

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
14 SOLAR ENERGY
bandgap
GaAs
GaAsP
GaInAs
high-efficiency
metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy
MOVPE
photovoltaics
PV
quantum wells
tandem solar cell
solar cells
electrical properties and parameters
semiconductor structures
superlattices
transmission electron microscopy
quantum efficiency
electroluminescence
thermionic emission

Title: Optically thick GaInAs/GaAsP strain-balanced quantum-well tandem solar cells with 29.2% efficiency under the AM0 space spectrum

Citation Formats

References (46)

Similar Records

Related Subjects