Flexible GaAs solar cells on roll-to-roll processed epitaxial Ge films on metal foils: a route towards low-cost and high-performance III–V photovoltaics

Dutta, P.; Rathi, M.; Khatiwada, D.; Sun, S.; Yao, Y.; Yu, B.; Reed, S.; Kacharia, M.; Martinez, J.; Litvinchuk, A. P.; Pasala, Z.; Pouladi, S.; Eslami, B.; Ryou, J. -H.; Ghasemi, H.; Ahrenkiel, P.; Hubbard, S.; Selvamanickam, V.

doi:10.1039/c8ee02553c

Flexible GaAs solar cells on roll-to-roll processed epitaxial Ge films on metal foils: a route towards low-cost and high-performance III–V photovoltaics

Journal Article · Fri Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Energy & Environmental Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ee02553c· OSTI ID:1613376

^[1]; ^[2]; Khatiwada, D. ^[2]; Sun, S. ^[2]; Yao, Y. ^[2]; Yu, B. ^[2]; Reed, S. ^[2]; Kacharia, M. ^[3]; Martinez, J. ^[4]; Litvinchuk, A. P. ^[2]; Pasala, Z. ^[5]; Pouladi, S. ^[2]; Eslami, B. ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[2]; Ahrenkiel, P. ^[5]; Hubbard, S. ^[3]; Selvamanickam, V. ^[2]

Univ. of Houston, TX (United States); DOE/OSTI
Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)
Rochester Inst. of Technology, Rochester, NY (United States)
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (United States)
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD (United States)

In this work, we describe a unique roll-to-roll plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (R2R-PECVD) technique to grow high-quality single-crystalline-like Ge films on flexible metal foils, an important advancement towards scalable processing of epitaxial Ge films at low-cost. Ion-beam assisted deposition was used to create single-crystalline-like substrate templates to enable epitaxial growth of Ge films. The Ge films were highly (004) oriented, biaxially-textured and showed remarkable crystalline quality, equivalent to single-crystal Ge wafers. Subsequently, the Ge films on metal foils were used as substrates to fabricate flexible GaAs single-junction solar cell by metal-oxide chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The champion device showed efficiency of 11.5%, and the average efficiency of four devices was 8% at 1 sun, the highest reported on GaAs PV directly deposited on alternative flexible substrates. Devices made on CVD-Ge film exhibited significantly improved performance compared to the ones grown on sputtered Ge films. Scalable production of inexpensive and flexible epi-Ge films will not only be useful for developing low-cost and high-performance III–V solar cells, but also for emerging flexible electronic devices applications.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006711

OSTI ID:: 1613376

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1492917

Journal Information:: Energy & Environmental Science, Journal Name: Energy & Environmental Science Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 12; ISSN 1754-5692

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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