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Upright and Inverted Single-Junction GaAs Solar Cells Grown by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy

Journal Article · · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
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  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
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Hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) is a low-cost alternative to conventional metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) growth of III-V solar cells. In this work, we show continued improvement of the performance of HVPE-grown single-junction GaAs solar cells. We show over an order of magnitude improvement in the interface recombination velocity between GaAs and GaInP layers through the elimination of growth interrupts, leading to increased short-circuit current density and open-circuit voltage compared with cells with interrupts. One-sun conversion efficiencies as high as 20.6% were achieved with this improved growth process. Solar cells grown in an inverted configuration that were removed from the substrate showed nearly identical performance to on-wafer cells, demonstrating the viability of HVPE to be used together with conventional wafer reuse techniques for further cost reduction. As a result, these devices utilized multiple heterointerfaces, showing the potential of HVPE for the growth of complex and high-quality III-V devices.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1356883
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5J00-67042
Journal Information:
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 7; ISSN 2156-3381
Publisher:
IEEECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Cited By (3)

Gallium arsenide solar cells grown at rates exceeding 300 µm h−1 by hydride vapor phase epitaxy journal July 2019
High growth rate hydride vapor phase epitaxy at low temperature through use of uncracked hydrides journal January 2018
Simulated potential for enhanced performance of mechanically stacked hybrid III–V/Si tandem photovoltaic modules using DC–DC converters journal October 2017

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
gallium arsenide
hydride vapor phase epitaxy
photovoltaics