Towards a III-V Solar Cell with a Metamorphic Graded Buffer Directly Grown on V-Groove Si Substrates

Conference · Thu Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9518609· OSTI ID:1821900

Saenz, Theresa E. ; Mangum, John S. ; Schneble, Olivia D. ; Garcia, Ivan; France, Ryan M. ; McMahon, William E.; Zimmerman, Jeramy D.; Warren, Emily L.

V-groove Si substrates offer a promising route for the direct growth of III-V solar cells on low-cost, photovoltaic-grade Si. In this work, we develop a method for coalescing GaP nucleated on V-groove substrates into thin films suitable for the growth of III-V solar cells. We demonstrate the ability to suppress nucleation-related defects by modifying the V-groove substrate to cover the (0 0 1)-oriented Si V-groove tops with SiN x . A threading dislocation density (TDD) of 5 × 10 7 cm -2 was measured with electron channeling contrast imaging. Continuing work will focus on further reducing the TDD and the growth of a GaAs solar cell on a GaP on V-groove Si template.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1821900
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-5900-79020; MainId:32937; UUID:b15a4814-b795-443e-b484-bab11c9e1c58; MainAdminID:62867
• Resource Relation: Conference: Presented at the 2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 20-25 June 2021
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
heteroepitaxy
III-V
low-cost substrate
nanopatterning
solar cells