High 400 °C operation temperature blue spectrum concentration solar junction in GaInN/GaN
- Future Chips Constellation and Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180 (United States)
Transparent wide gap junctions suitable as high temperature, high flux topping cells have been achieved in GaInN/GaN by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. In structures of 25 quantum wells (QWs) under AM1.5G illumination, an open circuit voltage of 2.1 V is achieved. Of the photons absorbed in the limited spectral range of <450 nm, 64.2% are converted to electrons collected at the contacts under zero bias. At a fill factor of 45%, they account for a power conversion efficiency of38.6%. Under concentration, the maximum output power density per sun increases from 0.49 mW/cm{sup 2} to 0.51 mW/cm{sup 2} at 40 suns and then falls 0.42 mW/cm{sup 2} at 150 suns. Under external heating, a maximum of 0.59 mW/cm{sup 2} is reached at 250 °C. Even at 400 °C, the device is fully operational and exceeds room temperature performance. A defect analysis suggests that significantly higher fill factors and extension into longer wavelength ranges are possible with further development. The results prove GaInN/GaN QW solar junctions a viable and rugged topping cell for concentrator photovoltaics with minimal cooling requirements. By capturing the short range spectrum, they reduce the thermal load to any conventional cells stacked behind.
- OSTI ID:
- 22395567
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 24; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
CONCENTRATION RATIO
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC CONTACTS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRONS
FILL FACTORS
GALLIUM NITRIDES
ILLUMINANCE
INDIUM NITRIDES
OPERATION
ORGANOMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
PHOTONS
PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT
QUANTUM WELLS
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
VAPOR PHASE EPITAXY