Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Growth of lattice-matched GaInAsP grown on vicinal GaAs(001) substrates within the miscibility gap for solar cells

Abstract

The growth of quaternary Ga0.68In0.32As0.35P0.65 by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy is very sensitive to growth conditions because the composition is within a miscibility gap. In this investigation, we fabricated 1 um-thick lattice-matched GaInAsP films grown on GaAs(001) for application to solar cells. In order to characterize the effect of the surface diffusion of adatoms on the material quality of alloys, the growth temperature and substrate miscut are varied. Transmission electron microscopy and two-dimensional in-situ multi-beam optical stress determine that growth temperatures of 650 degrees C and below enhance the formation of the CuPtB atomic ordering and suppress material decomposition, which is found to occur at the growth surface. The root-mean-square (RMS) roughness is reduced from 33.6 nm for 750 degrees C to 1.62 nm for 650 degrees C, determined by atomic force microscopy. Our initial investigations show that the RMS roughness can be further reduced using increased miscut angle, and substrates miscut toward (111)A, leading to an RMS roughness of 0.56 nm for the sample grown at 600 degrees C on GaAs miscut 6 degrees toward (111)A. Using these conditions, we fabricate an inverted hetero-junction 1.62 eV Ga0.68In0.32As0.35P0.65 solar cell without an anti-reflection coating with a short-circuit current density, open-circuitmore » voltage, fill factor, and efficiency of 12.23 mA/cm2, 1.12 V, 86.18%, and 11.80%, respectively.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1334744
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1396675
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5J00-67514
Journal ID: ISSN 0022-0248
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Crystal Growth
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 458; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-0248
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy; alloys; semiconducting quaternary alloys; solar cells

Citation Formats

Oshima, Ryuji, France, Ryan M., Geisz, John F., Norman, Andrew G., and Steiner, Myles A. Growth of lattice-matched GaInAsP grown on vicinal GaAs(001) substrates within the miscibility gap for solar cells. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2016.10.025.
Copy to clipboard
Oshima, Ryuji, France, Ryan M., Geisz, John F., Norman, Andrew G., & Steiner, Myles A. Growth of lattice-matched GaInAsP grown on vicinal GaAs(001) substrates within the miscibility gap for solar cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2016.10.025
Copy to clipboard
Oshima, Ryuji, France, Ryan M., Geisz, John F., Norman, Andrew G., and Steiner, Myles A. Thu . "Growth of lattice-matched GaInAsP grown on vicinal GaAs(001) substrates within the miscibility gap for solar cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2016.10.025. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1334744.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1334744,
title = {Growth of lattice-matched GaInAsP grown on vicinal GaAs(001) substrates within the miscibility gap for solar cells},
author = {Oshima, Ryuji and France, Ryan M. and Geisz, John F. and Norman, Andrew G. and Steiner, Myles A.},
abstractNote = {The growth of quaternary Ga0.68In0.32As0.35P0.65 by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy is very sensitive to growth conditions because the composition is within a miscibility gap. In this investigation, we fabricated 1 um-thick lattice-matched GaInAsP films grown on GaAs(001) for application to solar cells. In order to characterize the effect of the surface diffusion of adatoms on the material quality of alloys, the growth temperature and substrate miscut are varied. Transmission electron microscopy and two-dimensional in-situ multi-beam optical stress determine that growth temperatures of 650 degrees C and below enhance the formation of the CuPtB atomic ordering and suppress material decomposition, which is found to occur at the growth surface. The root-mean-square (RMS) roughness is reduced from 33.6 nm for 750 degrees C to 1.62 nm for 650 degrees C, determined by atomic force microscopy. Our initial investigations show that the RMS roughness can be further reduced using increased miscut angle, and substrates miscut toward (111)A, leading to an RMS roughness of 0.56 nm for the sample grown at 600 degrees C on GaAs miscut 6 degrees toward (111)A. Using these conditions, we fabricate an inverted hetero-junction 1.62 eV Ga0.68In0.32As0.35P0.65 solar cell without an anti-reflection coating with a short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency of 12.23 mA/cm2, 1.12 V, 86.18%, and 11.80%, respectively.},
doi = {10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2016.10.025},
journal = {Journal of Crystal Growth},
number = ,
volume = 458,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2016.10.025
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 16 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

Low‐threshold 1.25‐μm vapor‐grown InGaAsP cw lasers
journal, February 1979

  • Olsen, G. H.; Nuese, C. J.; Ettenberg, M.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 34, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.90774

Be‐implanted 1.3‐μm InGaAsP avalanche photodetectors
journal, May 1979

  • Feng, M.; Oberstar, J. D.; Windhorn, T. H.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 34, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.90885

Material studies regarding InP-based high-efficiency solar cells
journal, January 2006

Material parameters of In 1− x Ga x As y P 1− y and related binaries
journal, December 1982

  • Adachi, Sadao
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 53, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.330480

Coexistence properties of phase separation and CuPt-ordering in InGaAsP grown on GaAs substrates by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy
journal, July 2010

GaInAsP gas-source MBE technology
journal, October 1995

Investigations on Al$_{\bm x}$Ga$_{\bm {1-x}}$As Solar Cells Grown by MOVPE
journal, January 2015

Solar cell generations over 40% efficiency: Solar cell generations over 40% efficiency
journal, April 2012

  • King, R. R.; Bhusari, D.; Larrabee, D.
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 20, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1002/pip.1255

Calculation of Miscibility Gap in Quaternary InGaPAs with Strictly Regular Solution Approximation
journal, May 1982

  • Onabe, Kentaro
  • Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 21, Issue Part 1, No. 5
  • DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.21.797

Spinodal-like decomposition of grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy
journal, October 1995

Influence of the growth temperature and substrate orientation on the layer properties of MOVPE-growth
journal, January 1997

Anomalous behavior of phase separation of InGaAsP on GaAs substrates grown by MOVPE
journal, January 2007

Observation of Strong Ordering in Ga x In 1 − x P alloy semiconductors
journal, June 1988

CuPt ordering in high bandgap GaxIn1−xP alloys on relaxed GaAsP step grades
journal, September 2009

  • Steiner, M. A.; Bhusal, L.; Geisz, J. F.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 106, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3213376

Metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial growth of GaInAsP/GaAs
journal, November 1995

  • Knauer, A.; Erbert, G.; Gramlich, S.
  • Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1007/BF02676827

Ordering in GaxIn1−xAsyP1−y grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy
journal, December 1998

Alloying mechanisms in MOVPE GaAs1-xPx
journal, March 1983

Numerical Analysis of Group-V Element Transport and Incorporation at a Growing Surface in MOCVD Reactor
journal, March 1987

  • Sato, Michio; Suzuki, Motoyuki
  • Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 26, Issue Part 1, No. 3
  • DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.26.428

Study of InGaAsP and GaInP layers grown by MOCVD in pure N2 ambient for InGaAsP/GaAs single QW LD structures
journal, August 2004

In situ stress measurement for MOVPE growth of high efficiency lattice-mismatched solar cells
journal, April 2008

Complex refractive indices of AlGaAs at high temperatures measured by i n s i t u reflectometry during growth by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition
journal, January 1987

  • Kawai, Hiroji; Imanaga, Shunji; Kaneko, Kunio
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 61, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.338825

Enhanced external radiative efficiency for 20.8% efficient single-junction GaInP solar cells
journal, July 2013

  • Geisz, J. F.; Steiner, M. A.; García, I.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4816837

Atomic ordering and phase separation in MBE GaAs1−xBix
journal, May 2011

  • Norman, Andrew G.; France, Ryan; Ptak, Aaron J.
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 29, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1116/1.3562512

In situ measurement of CuPt alloy ordering using strain anisotropy
journal, February 2014

  • France, Ryan M.; McMahon, William E.; Kang, Joongoo
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4863821

Initiation and evolution of phase separation in heteroepitaxial InAlAs films
journal, May 2002

  • Shin, B.; Lin, A.; Lappo, K.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 80, Issue 18
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1476386

Naturally formed In x Al 1− x As/In y Al 1− y As vertical superlattices
journal, June 1996

  • Jun, Sung Won; Seong, Tae‐Yeon; Lee, J. H.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 68, Issue 24
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.115787

Spontaneous lateral phase separation of AlInP during thin film growth and its effect on luminescence
journal, September 2015

  • Mukherjee, Kunal; Norman, Andrew G.; Akey, Austin J.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4930990

Excitons at a single localized center induced by a natural composition modulation in bulk Ga 0.5 In 0.5 P
journal, June 2000

Two-dimensional phase separation and surface-reconstruction driven atomic ordering in mixed III–V layers
journal, March 1995

Competitive evolution of the fine contrast modulation and CuPt ordering in InGaP/GaAs layers
journal, October 1996

  • Diéguez, A.; Peiró, F.; Cornet, A.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 80, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.363332

Reflection high‐energy electron diffraction oscillations from vicinal surfaces—a new approach to surface diffusion measurements
journal, July 1985

  • Neave, J. H.; Dobson, P. J.; Joyce, B. A.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 47, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.96281

Anisotropic lateral growth in GaAs MOCVD layers on (001) substrates
journal, February 1987

Temperature dependence of the energy gap in semiconductors
journal, January 1967

Investigation of the cationic ordering in InGaP/GaAs epilayers grown by low-pressure, metal organic vapour phase epitaxy
journal, December 1994

Generalized Optoelectronic Model of Series-Connected Multijunction Solar Cells
journal, November 2015

Band gap-voltage offset and energy production in next-generation multijunction solar cells
journal, November 2010

  • King, R. R.; Bhusari, D.; Boca, A.
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 19, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1002/pip.1044
    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Stability of rolled-up GaAs nanotubes
    journal, June 2017

    • Silva, Júnio C. F.; dos Santos, José D.; Taft, Carlton A.
    • Journal of Molecular Modeling, Vol. 23, Issue 7
    • DOI: 10.1007/s00894-017-3371-3

    Pathway to 50% efficient inverted metamorphic concentrator solar cells
    conference, January 2017

    • Geisz, John F.; Steiner, Myles A.; Jain, Nikhil
    • 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONCENTRATOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS (CPV-13), AIP Conference Proceedings
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.5001425

    Growth of InGaAs Solar Cells on InP(001) Miscut Substrates Using Solid‐Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy
    journal, September 2019

    • Oshima, Ryuji; Ishitsuka, Yuki; Okano, Yoshinobu
    • physica status solidi (a), Vol. 217, Issue 3
    • DOI: 10.1002/pssa.201900512
      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: