Progress in narrow gap InGaAs/InP element for tandem solar cells

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:191155

Karlina, L B; Kazantsev, A B; Shvarts, M Z ^[1]

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1. Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation). A.F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Inst.

Narrow gap In{sub 0.53}Ga{sub 0.47}As/InP solar cells illuminated through a transparent InP substrate are the best candidates for fabricate on their base bottom cells combined with GaAs or InP top cells in mechanically stacked tandem concentrator solar cells. The In{sub 0.53}Ga{sub 0.47}As/InP (hereafter InGaAs) heterostructures were grown by liquid phase epitaxy. They consist of 4 epitaxial layers: n-InP (buffer); n-InGaAs and p-InGaAs (photoactive); p{sup +}-InGaAs (barrier + contact). This work describes the influence of an InP/InGaAs window/emitter interface region, emitter and base thickness on the collection efficiency of solar cells and the short-circuit current. The thick (1.7--2.0 {micro}m) and slightly doped emitter maximizes the photocarrier generation in the emitter and space charge depletion region. The study shows that collection efficiency values as high as 90% were measured in the spectral range of 1,000--1,600 nm for developed cells. It allowed one to obtain a photocurrent of 30.6 mA/cm{sup 2} (AM0, 1 Sun). This result was confirmed in the NASA LeRC.

• OSTI ID: 191155
• 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
ANTIREFLECTION COATINGS
DIFFUSION LENGTH
DOPED MATERIALS
FABRICATION
GALLIUM ARSENIDE SOLAR CELLS
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
INDIUM ARSENIDES
INDIUM PHOSPHIDE SOLAR CELLS
INDIUM PHOSPHIDES
LIQUID PHASE EPITAXY
MANGANESE
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOCURRENTS
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
SILICON NITRIDES
TANTALUM OXIDES