Enhanced current collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Jain, Nikhil; Geisz, John F.; France, Ryan M.; Norman, Andrew G.; Steiner, Myles A.

doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2655035

Title: Enhanced current collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Abstract

Quaternary GaInAsP solar cells with a bandgap of ~1.7 eV offer an attractive Al-free alternative to AlGaAs solar cells for integration in next generation of III-V multijunction solar cells with five or more junctions. Development of a high quality 1.7 eV solar cell is also highly sought for III-V/Si tandem solar cells. In this work, we systematically investigate the impact of varying base thicknesses and doping concentrations on the carrier collection and performance of 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells. The photoresponse of these cells is found to be very sensitive to p-type zinc doping concentration in the base layer. Prototype 1.7 eV GaInAsP n-i-p solar cell designs are demonstrated that leverage enhanced depletion width as an effective method to achieve peak quantum efficiency exceeding 90%. We also show the importance of optimal i-layer thickness as a critical parameter to reduce the drop in fill-factor (FF) due to field-aided collection. Furthermore, we demonstrate substantial improvement in the cell performance when the GaInAsP base layer is grown at 650 degrees C instead of 600 degrees C. The best GaInAsP solar cell (Eg ~ 1.65 eV) in this study achieved JSC of 21.1 mA/cm², VOC of 1.18 V, FF of 83.8%, and anmore »« less

Authors:

Jain, Nikhil ^[1]; Geisz, John F. ^[1]; France, Ryan M. ^[1]; Norman, Andrew G. ^[1]; Steiner, Myles A. ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Publication Date:: Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 EST 2017

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

OSTI Identifier:: 1360894

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5J00-68174
Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381

Publisher:: IEEE

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; III-V semiconductor materials; heterjunctions; multijunction solar cells; photovoltaic cells; semiconductor epitaxial layers

Citation Formats


                    Jain, Nikhil, Geisz, John F., France, Ryan M., Norman, Andrew G., and Steiner, Myles A. Enhanced current collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
Web.  doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2655035.

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                    Jain, Nikhil, Geisz, John F., France, Ryan M., Norman, Andrew G., & Steiner, Myles A. Enhanced current collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2655035

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                    Jain, Nikhil, Geisz, John F., France, Ryan M., Norman, Andrew G., and Steiner, Myles A. Wed .  
"Enhanced current collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2655035.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1360894.

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@article{osti_1360894,

  title        = {Enhanced current collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy},

  author       = {Jain, Nikhil and Geisz, John F. and France, Ryan M. and Norman, Andrew G. and Steiner, Myles A.},

  abstractNote = {Quaternary GaInAsP solar cells with a bandgap of ~1.7 eV offer an attractive Al-free alternative to AlGaAs solar cells for integration in next generation of III-V multijunction solar cells with five or more junctions. Development of a high quality 1.7 eV solar cell is also highly sought for III-V/Si tandem solar cells. In this work, we systematically investigate the impact of varying base thicknesses and doping concentrations on the carrier collection and performance of 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells. The photoresponse of these cells is found to be very sensitive to p-type zinc doping concentration in the base layer. Prototype 1.7 eV GaInAsP n-i-p solar cell designs are demonstrated that leverage enhanced depletion width as an effective method to achieve peak quantum efficiency exceeding 90%. We also show the importance of optimal i-layer thickness as a critical parameter to reduce the drop in fill-factor (FF) due to field-aided collection. Furthermore, we demonstrate substantial improvement in the cell performance when the GaInAsP base layer is grown at 650 degrees C instead of 600 degrees C. The best GaInAsP solar cell (Eg ~ 1.65 eV) in this study achieved JSC of 21.1 mA/cm2, VOC of 1.18 V, FF of 83.8%, and an efficiency of 20.8 +/- 1% under AM1.5D spectrum (21.5 +/- 1% under AM1.5G spectrum). Finally, these results highlight the potential of Al-free GaInAsP solar cells for integration in the next generation of III-V multijunction solar cells.},

  doi          = {10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2655035},

  journal      = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},

  number       = 3,

  volume       = 7,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 EST 2017},

  month        = {Wed Feb 08 00:00:00 EST 2017}

}

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https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2655035

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Manipulating Depletion Region of Aqueous-Processed Nanocrystals Solar Cells with Widened Fermi Level Offset
journal, October 2018

Wang, Lijing; Chen, Nannan; Jin, Gan
Small, Vol. 14, Issue 47
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201803072

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

High-efficiency inverted metamorphic 1.7/1.1 eV GaInAsP/GaInAs dual-junction solar cells
journal, January 2018

Jain, Nikhil; Schulte, Kevin L.; Geisz, John F.
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 5
DOI: 10.1063/1.5008517

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Title: Enhanced current collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cells grown on GaAs by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Abstract

Citation Formats

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