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Title: A comparative study of photon recycling effects in n{sup +}-p and p{sup +}-n InP solar cells with Bragg reflector

Book ·
OSTI ID:304402

Numerical calculation of photon recycling (PR) effect has been carried out for n{sup +}-p and p{sup +}-n structure InP cells with Bragg reflector (BR). For both structures with a thin ({approx_gt}0.1 {micro}m) emitter, PR effects on photocurrent are scarcely observed. A large contribution of PR to photocurrent is found for an n{sup +}-p structure with a thick ({approx_gt}0.5 {micro}m) emitter although photocurrent itself is reduced. A p{sup +}-n structure with a similar configuration, on the other hand, shows very small PR effects. Such a difference in the magnitude of PR effects between both cell structures is brought by the difference in radiative and nonradiative lifetimes between n{sup +} and p{sup +} emitters. An increase in Voc is found for an n{sup +}-p cell with a thin ({approximately}2 {micro}m) base layer. As results of increases in photocurrent and Voc by PR, conversion efficiency of a n{sup +}-p cell is increased by about 3%. For both cell structures, BR effects are observed for a base thickness less than about 3 {micro}m. The effects are not due to the trapping of reemitted light but the trapping of incident light.

OSTI ID:
304402
Report Number(s):
CONF-970953-; TRN: IM9905%%94
Resource Relation:
Conference: 26. IEEE photovoltaic specialists conference, Anaheim, CA (United States), 29 Sep - 3 Oct 1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of Conference record of the twenty sixth IEEE photovoltaic specialists conference -- 1997; PB: 1477 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English