GaAs solar cells grown on acoustically spalled GaAs substrates with 27% efficiency

Schulte, Kevin L.; Johnston, Steve W.; Braun, Anna K.; Boyer, Jacob T.; Neumann, Anica N.; McMahon, William E.; Young, Michelle; Coll, Pablo Guimerá; Bertoni, Mariana I.; Warren, Emily L.; Steiner, Myles A.

doi:10.1016/j.joule.2023.05.019

GaAs solar cells grown on acoustically spalled GaAs substrates with 27% efficiency

Journal Article · Mon Jun 19 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Joule

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.05.019· OSTI ID:1993804

^[1]; Johnston, Steve W. ^[1]; Braun, Anna K. ^[2]; Boyer, Jacob T. ^[1]; Neumann, Anica N. ^[2]; McMahon, William E. ^[1]; Young, Michelle ^[1]; Coll, Pablo Guimerá ^[3]; Bertoni, Mariana I. ^[4]; Warren, Emily L. ^[1]; Steiner, Myles A. ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
Crystal Sonic Inc., Phoenix, AZ (United States)
Crystal Sonic Inc., Phoenix, AZ (United States); Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)

Acoustic spalling presents a potentially low-cost reuse pathway for III–V epitaxial growth substrates via exfoliation of device layers with recovery and reuse of the substrate. However, surface features formed during spalling can reduce the performance of subsequently grown devices. Here, we develop an understanding of how the surface morphology of acoustically spalled substrates affects GaAs solar cell performance and develop strategies to mitigate these impacts. We demonstrate that minor planarization of the surface by wet chemical etching and/or epitaxial growth, or the redesign of the device structure to thicken critical layers, prevents performance degradation. Using these strategies, we demonstrate a 0.25 cm² single-junction GaAs device with 26.9% ± 0.2% photovoltaic conversion efficiency under the AM1.5G spectrum grown on an acoustically spalled substrate. These results enable the growth of high-performance III–V devices on non-traditional substrates with the potential for significantly reduced device costs.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1993804

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-84704; MainId:85477; UUID:45894db6-e89d-46bf-846c-eb2863896391; MainAdminID:69677

Journal Information:: Joule, Journal Name: Joule Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 7; ISSN 2542-4351

Publisher:: Elsevier - Cell PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
GaAs
III-V
OMVPE
PV
organometallic vapor phase epitaxy
photovoltaic
shunt defects
solar cells
sonic wafering

GaAs solar cells grown on acoustically spalled GaAs substrates with 27% efficiency

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