GaAs Solar Cells Grown by Hydride Vapor-Phase Epitaxy and the Development of GaInP Cladding Layers

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2016 · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2015.2501723· OSTI ID:1320385

Simon, John; Schulte, Kevin L.; Young, David L.; Haegel, Nancy M.; Ptak, Aaron J.

The high cost of high-efficiency III-V photovoltaic devices currently limits them to niche markets. Hydride vapor-phase epitaxy (HVPE) growth of III-V materials recently reemerged as a low-cost, high-throughput alternative to conventional metal- organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) growth of high-efficiency solar cells. Previously, we demonstrated unpassivated HVPEgrown GaAs p-n junctions with good quantum efficiency and high open-circuit voltage (Voc). In this work, we demonstrate the growth of GaInPby HVPE for use as a high-quality surface passivation layer to GaAs solar cells. Solar cells grown with GaInP window layers show significantly improved quantum efficiency compared with unpassivated cells, increasing the short-circuit current (JSC) of these low-cost devices. These results show the potential of low-cost HVPE for the growth of high-quality III-V devices.

• Research Organization: NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States))
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1320385
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5J00-67049
• Journal Information: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 6; ISSN 2156-3381
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
epitaxial growth
gain measurement
gallium arsenide
metals
photovoltaic cells
substrates
temperature measurement