DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: InAlAs photovoltaic cell design for high device efficiency

Abstract

Abstract This study presents a new design for a single‐junction InAlAs solar cell, which reduces parasitic absorption losses from the low band‐gap contact layer while maintaining a functional window layer by integrating a selective etch stop. The etch stop is then removed prior to depositing an anti‐reflective coating. The final cell had a 17.9% efficiency under 1‐sun AM1.5 with an anti‐reflective coating. Minority carrier diffusion lengths were extracted from external quantum efficiency data using physics‐based device simulation software yielding 170 nm in the n‐type emitter and 4.6 μm in the p‐type base, which is more than four times the diffusion length previously reported for a p‐type InAlAs base. This report represents significant progress towards a high‐performance InAlAs top cell for a triple‐junction design lattice‐matched to InP. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
OSTI Identifier:
1374129
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1401536
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-69002
Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Progress in Photovoltaics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 25; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; InAlAs; InP; MOVPE; multijunction solar cell

Citation Formats

Smith, Brittany L., Bittner, Zachary S., Hellstroem, Staffan D., Nelson, George T., Slocum, Michael A., Norman, Andrew G., Forbes, David V., and Hubbard, Seth M. InAlAs photovoltaic cell design for high device efficiency. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/pip.2895.
Smith, Brittany L., Bittner, Zachary S., Hellstroem, Staffan D., Nelson, George T., Slocum, Michael A., Norman, Andrew G., Forbes, David V., & Hubbard, Seth M. InAlAs photovoltaic cell design for high device efficiency. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2895
Smith, Brittany L., Bittner, Zachary S., Hellstroem, Staffan D., Nelson, George T., Slocum, Michael A., Norman, Andrew G., Forbes, David V., and Hubbard, Seth M. Mon . "InAlAs photovoltaic cell design for high device efficiency". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2895. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1374129.
@article{osti_1374129,
title = {InAlAs photovoltaic cell design for high device efficiency},
author = {Smith, Brittany L. and Bittner, Zachary S. and Hellstroem, Staffan D. and Nelson, George T. and Slocum, Michael A. and Norman, Andrew G. and Forbes, David V. and Hubbard, Seth M.},
abstractNote = {Abstract This study presents a new design for a single‐junction InAlAs solar cell, which reduces parasitic absorption losses from the low band‐gap contact layer while maintaining a functional window layer by integrating a selective etch stop. The etch stop is then removed prior to depositing an anti‐reflective coating. The final cell had a 17.9% efficiency under 1‐sun AM1.5 with an anti‐reflective coating. Minority carrier diffusion lengths were extracted from external quantum efficiency data using physics‐based device simulation software yielding 170 nm in the n‐type emitter and 4.6 μm in the p‐type base, which is more than four times the diffusion length previously reported for a p‐type InAlAs base. This report represents significant progress towards a high‐performance InAlAs top cell for a triple‐junction design lattice‐matched to InP. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.},
doi = {10.1002/pip.2895},
journal = {Progress in Photovoltaics},
number = 8,
volume = 25,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Apr 17 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Apr 17 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 7 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

InGaAs/InAlAs HEMT with a strained InGaP Schottky contact layer
journal, May 1993

  • Fujita, S.; Noda, T.; Nozaki, C.
  • IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1109/55.215186

The effect of growth temperature on the electrical properties of AlInAs/InP grown by molecular beam epitaxy and metal‐organic chemical‐vapor deposition
journal, December 1993

  • Luo, J. K.; Thomas, H.; Clark, S. A.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 74, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.355069

Band parameters for III–V compound semiconductors and their alloys
journal, June 2001

  • Vurgaftman, I.; Meyer, J. R.; Ram-Mohan, L. R.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 89, Issue 11, p. 5815-5875
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1368156

Evaluation of strained InAlAs as a window layer for wide bandgap materials lattice matched to InP
conference, June 2015

  • Yakes, Michael K.; Schmieder, Kenneth J.; Lumb, Matthew P.
  • 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC)
  • DOI: 10.1109/PVSC.2015.7356068

InAlAs epitaxial growth for wide band gap solar cells
conference, June 2011

  • Leite, Marina S.; Woo, Robyn L.; Hong, William D.
  • 2011 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
  • DOI: 10.1109/PVSC.2011.6186070

InAlAs solar cell on a GaAs substrate employing a graded In x Ga 1−x As–InP metamorphic buffer layer
journal, January 2013

  • Mathews, Ian; O'Mahony, Donagh; Gocalinska, Agnieszka
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4789521

Direct energy gap of Al 1− x In x As lattice matched to InP
journal, February 1984

  • Wakefield, B.; Halliwell, M. A. G.; Kerr, T.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 44, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.94726

Refractive indices of InAlAs and InGaAs/InP from 250 to 1900 nm determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry
journal, January 1992


Resonant-cavity InGaAs-InAlAs avalanche photodiodes with gain-bandwidth product of 290 GHz
journal, September 1999

  • Lenox, C.; Nie, H.; Yuan, P.
  • IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1109/68.784238

Compositional dependence of band‐gap energy and conduction‐band effective mass of In 1− xy Ga x Al y As lattice matched to InP
journal, September 1982

  • Olego, D.; Chang, T. Y.; Silberg, E.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 41, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.93537

Surface recombination velocity and lifetime in InP
journal, January 1991


First demonstration of monolithic InP-based InAlAs/InGaAsP/InGaAs triple junction solar cells
conference, June 2011

  • Woo, Robyn L.; Hong, William D.; Mesropian, Shoghig
  • 2011 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
  • DOI: 10.1109/PVSC.2011.6185903

Observation of phase separation and ordering in the InAlAs epilayer grown on InP at the low temperature
journal, October 1999


Series resistance effects on solar cell measurements
journal, April 1963


Modeling and analysis of multijunction solar cells
conference, February 2011

  • González, María; Chan, Ngai; Ekins-Daukes, Nicholas J.
  • SPIE OPTO, SPIE Proceedings
  • DOI: 10.1117/12.875757

Towards an optimized all lattice-matched InAlAs/InGaAsP/InGaAs multijunction solar cell with efficiency >50%
journal, January 2013

  • Leite, Marina S.; Woo, Robyn L.; Munday, Jeremy N.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4758300

Simulation of novel InAlAsSb solar cells
conference, February 2012

  • Lumb, Matthew P.; Gonzalez, Maria; Vurgaftman, Igor
  • SPIE OPTO, SPIE Proceedings
  • DOI: 10.1117/12.909324

27.6% Conversion efficiency, a new record for single-junction solar cells under 1 sun illumination
conference, June 2011

  • Kayes, Brendan M.; Nie, Hui; Twist, Rose
  • 2011 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
  • DOI: 10.1109/PVSC.2011.6185831

Wide-band-gap InAlAs solar cell for an alternative multijunction approach
journal, February 2011

  • Leite, Marina S.; Woo, Robyn L.; Hong, William D.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3531756

Wafer-Scale Strain Engineering of Ultrathin Semiconductor Crystalline Layers
journal, July 2011


Works referencing / citing this record:

Contactless electroreflectance study of the surface potential barrier in n -type and p -type InAlAs van Hoof structures lattice matched to InP
journal, May 2018

  • Tolloczko, A.; Kopaczek, J.; Szukiewicz, R.
  • Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 51, Issue 21
  • DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/aabf6b

Electron transport in the solar-relevant InAlAs
journal, May 2019