Voltage performance of quantum well solar cells in the Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1{minus}x}As/GaAs and the GaAs/In{sub y}Ga{sub 1{minus}y}As material systems

Book · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:191123

Haarpaintner, G; Barnes, J; Barnham, K W.J. ^[1]

---

1. Imperial Coll. of Science, Technology and Medicine, London (United Kingdom)

The open circuit voltage V{sub oc} and reference voltage V{sub ref}, defined as a measure of the dark current quality, have been studied for a large number of quantum well (QW) solar cells and homogeneous control cells.Samples were grown in the Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1{minus}x}As/GaAs and GaAs/In{sub y}Ga{sub 1{minus}y}As material systems. For both combinations, QW solar cells show a better voltage performance in V{sub oc} and V{sub ref} than one would expect from a single bandgap solar cell with the same effective absorption bandgap E{sub a}. For the AlGaAs/GaAs cells, V{sub oc} is related to structural parameters of the QW cells such as the well width L{sub W} and the Al fraction x. For the strained GaAs/InGaAs cells a relationship is found between V{sub ref} and the barrier width L{sub B}, which is a dominant parameter in determining strain relaxation and defect formation at a fixed In fraction.

• OSTI ID: 191123
• Report Number(s): CONF-941203--; ISBN 0-7803-1459-X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINIUM ARSENIDE SOLAR CELLS
ALUMINIUM ARSENIDES
ANTIREFLECTION COATINGS
CURRENT DENSITY
DEPLETION LAYER
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GALLIUM ARSENIDE SOLAR CELLS
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
ILLUMINANCE
INDIUM ARSENIDES
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
PERFORMANCE
RECOMBINATION
VAPOR PHASE EPITAXY
WINDOWS