Identification of the limiting factors for high-temperature GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from device and carrier lifetime analysis

Perl, E. E.; Kuciauskas, D.; Simon, J.; Friedman, D. J.; Steiner, M. A.

doi:10.1063/1.5003631

Title: Identification of the limiting factors for high-temperature GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from device and carrier lifetime analysis

Abstract

We analyze the temperature-dependent dark saturation current density and open-circuit voltage (VOC) for GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from 25 to 400 degrees C. As expected, the intrinsic carrier concentration, ni, dominates the temperature dependence of the dark currents. However, at 400 degrees C, we measure VOC that is ~50 mV higher for the GaAs solar cell and ~60-110 mV lower for the GaInP and AlGaInP solar cells compared to what would be expected from commonly used solar cell models that consider only the ni2 temperature dependence. To better understand these deviations, we measure the carrier lifetimes of p-type GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP double heterostructures (DHs) from 25 to 400 degrees C using time-resolved photoluminescence. Temperature-dependent minority carrier lifetimes are analyzed to determine the relative contributions of the radiative recombination, interface recombination, Shockley-Read-Hall recombination, and thermionic emission processes. We find that radiative recombination dominates for the GaAs DHs with the effective lifetime approximately doubling as the temperature is increased from 25 degrees C to 400 degrees C. In contrast, we find that thermionic emission dominates for the GaInP and AlGaInP DHs at elevated temperatures, leading to a 3-4x reduction in the effective lifetime and ~40x increase in the surfacemore »« less

Authors:

Perl, E. E. ^[1];

^[1]; Simon, J. ^[1]; Friedman, D. J. ^[1]; Steiner, M. A. ^[1]

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

Publication Date:: 2017-12-21

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

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

OSTI Identifier:: 1416721

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1414035

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-70767
Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; AR0000508

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Applied Physics

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 23; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; semiconductors; electric currents; thermionic emission; electrical properties; solar cells

Citation Formats


                    Perl, E. E., Kuciauskas, D., Simon, J., Friedman, D. J., and Steiner, M. A.. Identification of the limiting factors for high-temperature GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from device and carrier lifetime analysis.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
Web.  doi:10.1063/1.5003631.

Copy to clipboard


                    Perl, E. E., Kuciauskas, D., Simon, J., Friedman, D. J., & Steiner, M. A.. Identification of the limiting factors for high-temperature GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from device and carrier lifetime analysis.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5003631

Copy to clipboard


                    Perl, E. E., Kuciauskas, D., Simon, J., Friedman, D. J., and Steiner, M. A.. Thu .  
"Identification of the limiting factors for high-temperature GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from device and carrier lifetime analysis".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5003631.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1416721.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1416721,

  title        = {Identification of the limiting factors for high-temperature GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from device and carrier lifetime analysis},

  author       = {Perl, E. E. and Kuciauskas, D. and Simon, J. and Friedman, D. J. and Steiner, M. A.},

  abstractNote = {We analyze the temperature-dependent dark saturation current density and open-circuit voltage (VOC) for GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from 25 to 400 degrees C. As expected, the intrinsic carrier concentration, ni, dominates the temperature dependence of the dark currents. However, at 400 degrees C, we measure VOC that is ~50 mV higher for the GaAs solar cell and ~60-110 mV lower for the GaInP and AlGaInP solar cells compared to what would be expected from commonly used solar cell models that consider only the ni2 temperature dependence. To better understand these deviations, we measure the carrier lifetimes of p-type GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP double heterostructures (DHs) from 25 to 400 degrees C using time-resolved photoluminescence. Temperature-dependent minority carrier lifetimes are analyzed to determine the relative contributions of the radiative recombination, interface recombination, Shockley-Read-Hall recombination, and thermionic emission processes. We find that radiative recombination dominates for the GaAs DHs with the effective lifetime approximately doubling as the temperature is increased from 25 degrees C to 400 degrees C. In contrast, we find that thermionic emission dominates for the GaInP and AlGaInP DHs at elevated temperatures, leading to a 3-4x reduction in the effective lifetime and ~40x increase in the surface recombination velocity as the temperature is increased from 25 degrees C to 400 degrees C. These observations suggest that optimization of the minority carrier confinement layers for the GaInP and AlGaInP solar cells could help to improve VOC and solar cell efficiency at elevated temperatures. We demonstrate VOC improvement at 200-400 degrees C in GaInP solar cells fabricated with modified AlGaInP window and back surface field layers.},

  doi          = {10.1063/1.5003631},

  journal      = {Journal of Applied Physics},

  number       = 23,

  volume       = 122,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2017},

  month        = {12}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5003631

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 25 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1: Device schematic of the GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells showing the nominal room-temperature bandgaps, thicknesses, and structure of the epitaxially grown layers. The diagram is not to scale.

All figures and tables (8 total)

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Works referenced in this record:

Carrier lifetimes and interface recombination velocities in CdTe/Mg _x Cd ₁₋ _x Te double heterostructures with different Mg compositions grown by molecular beam epitaxy
journal, July 2015

Liu, Shi; Zhao, Xin-Hao; Campbell, Calli M.
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 4
DOI: 10.1063/1.4927757

Effects of Internal Luminescence and Internal Optics on $V_{\bf oc}$ and $J_{\bf sc}$ of III--V Solar Cells
journal, October 2013

Steiner, Myles A.; Geisz, John F.; Garcia, Ivan
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 4
DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2278666

Theoretical temperature dependence of solar cell parameters
journal, April 1986

Fan, John C. C.
Solar Cells, Vol. 17, Issue 2-3
DOI: 10.1016/0379-6787(86)90020-7

Hybrid solar converters for maximum exergy and inexpensive dispatchable electricity
journal, January 2015

Branz, Howard M.; Regan, William; Gerst, Kacy J.
Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 8, Issue 11
DOI: 10.1039/C5EE01998B

Development of High-Bandgap AlGaInP Solar Cells Grown by Organometallic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy
journal, May 2016

Perl, Emmett E.; Simon, John; Geisz, John F.
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 6, Issue 3
DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2016.2537543

Temperature dependence of diffusion length, lifetime and minority electron mobility in GaInP
journal, December 2013

Schultes, F. J.; Christian, T.; Jones-Albertus, R.
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 24
DOI: 10.1063/1.4847635

Minority-carrier recombination in $p - InP$ single crystals
journal, September 2003

Rosenwaks, Y.; Tsimberova, I.; Gero, H.
Physical Review B, Vol. 68, Issue 11
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.68.115210

Thermal-photovoltaic solar hybrid system for efficient solar energy conversion
journal, February 2006

Vorobiev, Yu.; González-Hernández, J.; Vorobiev, P.
Solar Energy, Vol. 80, Issue 2
DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2005.04.022

Four-Junction Wafer-Bonded Concentrator Solar Cells
journal, January 2016

Dimroth, Frank; Tibbits, Thomas N. D.; Niemeyer, Markus
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 6, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2015.2501729

Thermionic emission and Gaussian transport of holes in a GaAs/ ${Al}_{x}$ ${Ga}_{1 - x}$ As multiple-quantum-well structure
journal, September 1988

Schneider, H.; Klitzing, K. v.
Physical Review B, Vol. 38, Issue 9
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.38.6160

A review on photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar technology
journal, February 2010

Chow, T. T.
Applied Energy, Vol. 87, Issue 2
DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.06.037

Ultralow recombination velocity at Ga _0.5 In _0.5 P/GaAs heterointerfaces
journal, September 1989

Olson, J. M.; Ahrenkiel, R. K.; Dunlavy, D. J.
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 55, Issue 12
DOI: 10.1063/1.101656

Temperature dependence of the minority carrier lifetime in GaAs/AlGaAs double heterostructures
journal, October 1995

Bergman, J. P.; Hallin, C.; Janzén, E.
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 78, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1063/1.360740

Influence of temperature on luminescent coupling and material quality evaluation in inverted lattice‐matched and metamorphic multi‐junction solar cells
journal, November 2015

Ochoa, M.; Steiner, M. A.; García, I.
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 24, Issue 3
DOI: 10.1002/pip.2714

Quadruple-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Devices
journal, January 2015

France, Ryan M.; Geisz, John F.; Garcia, Ivan
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2014.2364132

III-V compound SC for optoelectronic devices
journal, April 2009

Mokkapati, Sudha; Jagadish, Chennupati
Materials Today, Vol. 12, Issue 4
DOI: 10.1016/S1369-7021(09)70110-5

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 50)
journal, June 2017

Green, Martin A.; Hishikawa, Yoshihiro; Warta, Wilhelm
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 25, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1002/pip.2909

Measurements and Modeling of III-V Solar Cells at High Temperatures up to 400 ${}^{\circ}$ C
journal, September 2016

Perl, Emmett E.; Simon, John; Geisz, John F.
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 6, Issue 5
DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2016.2582398

AlGaInP/GaAs tandem solar cells for power conversion at 400°C and high concentration
conference, January 2017

Steiner, Myles A.; Perl, Emmett E.; Simon, John
13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONCENTRATOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS (CPV-13), AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI: 10.1063/1.5001429

Works referencing / citing this record:

Measurement of the non-radiative minority recombination lifetime and the effective radiative recombination coefficient in GaAs
journal, April 2019

Niemeyer, M.; Kleinschmidt, P.; Walker, A. W.
AIP Advances, Vol. 9, Issue 4
DOI: 10.1063/1.5051709

On the importance of the junction temperature on obtaining the charge transport parameters of a solar cell
journal, May 2019

Mimila-Arroyo, J.
Semiconductor Science and Technology, Vol. 34, Issue 6
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6641/ab1d20

Figures / Tables found in this record:

Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

Improvement of Front-Junction GaInP by Point-Defect Injection and Annealing: Preprint

Conference France, Ryan M. ; Hinojosa, Manuel ; Ahrenkiel, S. Phil ; ...

Traditional front junction GaInP solar cells are radiation tolerant and can have good diffusion length, but have limited voltage and thus efficiency. Here, we investigate the impact of annealing on GaInP device performance. First, Zn-doped GaInP/AlGaInP double heterojunction structures are studied in order to investigate the impact of annealing in a simple structure. While standard anneals lower diffusion length and lifetime, annealing after injecting point-defects improves material quality, presumably by eliminating sources of non-radiative recombination. Atomic ordering is reduced by the anneal, which raises the device bandgap and requires consideration. These results can be used to improve front junction devicemore »« less
Full Text Available
Improvement of Front-Junction GaInP by Point-Defect Injection and Annealing

Conference France, Ryan M. ; Hinojosa, Manuel ; Ahrenkiel, S. Phil ; ...

Traditional front junction GaInP solar cells are radiation tolerant and can have good diffusion length, but have limited voltage and thus efficiency. Here, we investigate the impact of annealing on GaInP device performance. First, Zn-doped GaInP/AlGaInP double heterojunction structures are studied in order to investigate the impact of annealing in a simple structure. While standard anneals lower diffusion length and lifetime, annealing after injecting point-defects improves material quality, presumably by eliminating sources of non-radiative recombination. Atomic ordering is reduced by the anneal, which raises the device bandgap and requires consideration. These results can be used to improve front junction devicemore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9519022
High-efficiency AlGaInP solar cells grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Journal Article Faucher, J. ; Sun, Y. ; Jung, D. ; ... - Applied Physics Letters

AlGaInP is an ideal material for ultra-high efficiency, lattice-matched multi-junction solar cells grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) because it can be grown lattice-matched to GaAs with a wide 1.9–2.2 eV bandgap. Despite this potential, AlGaInP grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has yet to be fully explored, with the initial 2.0 eV devices suffering from poor performance due to low minority carrier diffusion lengths in both the emitter and base regions of the solar cell. In this work, we show that implementing an AlGaInP graded layer to introduce a drift field near the front surface of the device enabledmore »« less
Cited by 17
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4965979
Comparison of single junction AlGaInP and GaInP solar cells grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Journal Article Masuda, T ; Tomasulo, S ; Lang, JR ; ... - Journal of Applied Physics

We have investigated similar to 2.0 eV (AlxGa1-x)(0.51)In0.49P and similar to 1.9 eV Ga0.51In0.49P single junction solar cells grown on both on-axis and misoriented GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Although lattice-matched (AlxGa1-x)(0.51)In0.49P solar cells are highly attractive for space and concentrator photovoltaics, there have been few reports on the MBE growth of such cells. In this work, we demonstrate open circuit voltages (V-oc) ranging from 1.29 to 1.30 V for Ga0.51In0.49P cells, and 1.35-1.37 V for (AlxGa1-x)(0.51)In0.49P cells. Growth on misoriented substrates enabled the bandgap-voltage offset (W-oc = E-g/q - V-oc) of Ga0.51In0.49P cells to decrease from similarmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4914046
Development of a 2.0 eV AlGaInP Solar Cell Grown by OMVPE

Conference Perl, Emmett E. ; Simon, John ; Geisz, John F. ; ...

AlGaInP solar cells with a bandgap (Eg) of ~2.0 eV are developed for use in next-generation multijunction photovoltaic devices. This material system is of great interest for both space and concentrator photovoltaics due to its high bandgap, which enables the development of high-efficiency five-junction and six-junction devices and is also useful for solar cells operated at elevated temperatures. In this work, we explore the conditions for the Organometallic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (OMVPE) growth of AlGaInP and study their effects on cell performance. A ~2.0 eV AlGaInP solar cell is demonstrated with an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 1.59V, a bandgap-voltagemore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2015.7356336

Similar Records

Title: Identification of the limiting factors for high-temperature GaAs, GaInP, and AlGaInP solar cells from device and carrier lifetime analysis

Abstract

Citation Formats

Figures / Tables:

Carrier lifetimes and interface recombination velocities in CdTe/Mg x Cd 1− x Te double heterostructures with different Mg compositions grown by molecular beam epitaxy journal, July 2015

Effects of Internal Luminescence and Internal Optics on $V_{\bf oc}$ and $J_{\bf sc}$ of III--V Solar Cells journal, October 2013

Theoretical temperature dependence of solar cell parameters journal, April 1986

Hybrid solar converters for maximum exergy and inexpensive dispatchable electricity journal, January 2015

Development of High-Bandgap AlGaInP Solar Cells Grown by Organometallic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy journal, May 2016

Temperature dependence of diffusion length, lifetime and minority electron mobility in GaInP journal, December 2013

Minority-carrier recombination in p − InP single crystals journal, September 2003

Thermal-photovoltaic solar hybrid system for efficient solar energy conversion journal, February 2006

Four-Junction Wafer-Bonded Concentrator Solar Cells journal, January 2016

Thermionic emission and Gaussian transport of holes in a GaAs/ Al x Ga 1 − x As multiple-quantum-well structure journal, September 1988

A review on photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar technology journal, February 2010

Ultralow recombination velocity at Ga 0.5 In 0.5 P/GaAs heterointerfaces journal, September 1989

Temperature dependence of the minority carrier lifetime in GaAs/AlGaAs double heterostructures journal, October 1995

Influence of temperature on luminescent coupling and material quality evaluation in inverted lattice‐matched and metamorphic multi‐junction solar cells journal, November 2015

Quadruple-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Devices journal, January 2015

III-V compound SC for optoelectronic devices journal, April 2009

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 50) journal, June 2017

Measurements and Modeling of III-V Solar Cells at High Temperatures up to 400 ${}^{\circ}$ C journal, September 2016

AlGaInP/GaAs tandem solar cells for power conversion at 400°C and high concentration conference, January 2017

Measurement of the non-radiative minority recombination lifetime and the effective radiative recombination coefficient in GaAs journal, April 2019

On the importance of the junction temperature on obtaining the charge transport parameters of a solar cell journal, May 2019

Carrier lifetimes and interface recombination velocities in CdTe/Mg _x Cd ₁₋ _x Te double heterostructures with different Mg compositions grown by molecular beam epitaxy
journal, July 2015

Effects of Internal Luminescence and Internal Optics on $V_{\bf oc}$ and $J_{\bf sc}$ of III--V Solar Cells
journal, October 2013

Theoretical temperature dependence of solar cell parameters
journal, April 1986

Hybrid solar converters for maximum exergy and inexpensive dispatchable electricity
journal, January 2015

Development of High-Bandgap AlGaInP Solar Cells Grown by Organometallic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy
journal, May 2016

Temperature dependence of diffusion length, lifetime and minority electron mobility in GaInP
journal, December 2013

Minority-carrier recombination in $p - InP$ single crystals
journal, September 2003

Thermal-photovoltaic solar hybrid system for efficient solar energy conversion
journal, February 2006

Four-Junction Wafer-Bonded Concentrator Solar Cells
journal, January 2016

Thermionic emission and Gaussian transport of holes in a GaAs/ ${Al}_{x}$ ${Ga}_{1 - x}$ As multiple-quantum-well structure
journal, September 1988

A review on photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar technology
journal, February 2010

Ultralow recombination velocity at Ga _0.5 In _0.5 P/GaAs heterointerfaces
journal, September 1989

Temperature dependence of the minority carrier lifetime in GaAs/AlGaAs double heterostructures
journal, October 1995

Influence of temperature on luminescent coupling and material quality evaluation in inverted lattice‐matched and metamorphic multi‐junction solar cells
journal, November 2015

Quadruple-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Devices
journal, January 2015

III-V compound SC for optoelectronic devices
journal, April 2009

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 50)
journal, June 2017

Measurements and Modeling of III-V Solar Cells at High Temperatures up to 400 ${}^{\circ}$ C
journal, September 2016

AlGaInP/GaAs tandem solar cells for power conversion at 400°C and high concentration
conference, January 2017

Measurement of the non-radiative minority recombination lifetime and the effective radiative recombination coefficient in GaAs
journal, April 2019

On the importance of the junction temperature on obtaining the charge transport parameters of a solar cell
journal, May 2019