Gallium arsenide and multibandgap solar cell research. Semiannual subcontract report, April-October 1984

Technical Report · Fri Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6230230· OSTI ID:6230230

Vernon, S. M.; Wolfson, R. G.

This report covers the first six months of research on high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells. The basic approach involved the heteroepitaxial growth of a III-V compound material onto a single-crystal silicon wafer. The growth technique employed was metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MO-CVD) in an atmospheric pressure reactor. The silicon wafer may be a mechanical substrate and ohmic contact for a single-junction device, or it may contain a p-n junction of its own as the bottom cell of a two-junction, tandem device. The III-V single-junction cell material is GaAs and the two-junction material is either GaAlAs or GaAsP; either material could yield a band gap of about 1.7eV. Single-crystal films of Ge, deposited onto silicon wafers by CVD, are also being studied.

• Research Organization: Spire Corp., Bedford, MA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 6230230
• Report Number(s): SERI/STR-211-2824; ON: DE85016894
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
CASCADE SOLAR CELLS
CHEMICAL COATING
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
DEPOSITION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELEMENTS
EPITAXY
EQUIPMENT
FABRICATION
GALLIUM ARSENIDE SOLAR CELLS
GERMANIUM
METALS
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPECTRAL RESPONSE
SURFACE COATING