Design of single junction and multijunction solar cells

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:5454548

Meier, D L ^[1]

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1. Westinghouse R and D Center, 1310 Beulah Road, Pittsburgh, PA (US)

In this work, consideration is given to the primary factors involved in the design of solar cells, both single junction and multijunction. The most important factor is the choice of the starting semiconductor material. The bandgap must be appropriate for the solar spectrum, the thickness of the material must be adequate for absorption of the available photons, and the lifetime of the minority carriers in the material must be sufficiently high to allow collection of the photogenerated carriers. Internal features of the cell are considered next. Internal electric fields must be created to separate the photogenerated electrons from the holes (p-n junction) and to keep minority carriers away from cell surfaces (high-low junction). These fields are generally created by diffusion or ion implantation or dopants, or by epitaxial growth. Important parameters include junction depth, dopant surface concentration, and dopant profile. Finally, features that are external to the cell are examined.

• OSTI ID: 5454548
• Report Number(s): CONF-881143--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
CARRIER DENSITY
DESIGN
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
EPITAXY
EQUIPMENT
GRADED BAND GAPS
JUNCTIONS
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT