Growth and characterization of a two-junction, stacked solar cell

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6617852

Bedair, S M; Lamorte, M F; Hauser, J R; Mitchell, K W

Results are reported on an experimental two-junction cascade solar cell structure. The cell has been fabricated on a GaAs substrate using six or seven layers of GaAs and AlGaAs materials to form a monolithic, internally connected, two-junction structure. The lower cell has been fabricated in GaAs with a bandgap of 1.44 eV while the connecting junction and upper cell have been fabricated in AlGaAs with a bandgap in the range of 1.6 to 1.7 eV. The resulting cascade solar cell has a terminal I-V characteristic similar to that of a single p-n junction and under illumination exhibits an open circuit voltage of about 2.0 volts. This work demonstrates for the first time the cascade solar cell concept.

• Research Organization: Research Triangle Inst., Research Triangle Park, NC (USA); North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh (USA); Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-04-0789
• OSTI ID: 6617852
• Report Number(s): SAND-78-2015C; CONF-781210-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
ALUMINIUM ARSENIDES
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
FABRICATION
GALLIUM ARSENIDE SOLAR CELLS
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
GRADED BAND GAPS
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PNICTIDES
SOLAR CELLS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE