Building a Six-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Solar Cell

Geisz, John F.; Steiner, Myles A.; Jain, Nikhil; Schulte, Kevin L.; France, Ryan M.; McMahon, William E.; Perl, Emmett E.; Friedman, Daniel J.

doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2778567

Title: Building a Six-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Solar Cell

Abstract

We propose practical six-junction (6J) inverted metamorphic multijunction (IMM) concentrator solar cell designs with the potential to exceed 50% efficiency using moderately high quality junction materials. We demonstrate the top three junctions and their monolithic integration lattice matched to GaAs using 2.1-eV AlGaInP, 1.7-eV AlGaAs or GaInAsP, and 1.4-eV GaAs with external radiative efficiencies >0.1%. We demonstrate tunnel junctions with peak tunneling current >400 A/cm² that are transparent to <2.1-eV light. We compare the bottom three GaInAs(p) junctions with bandgaps of 1.2, 1.0, and 0.7 eV grown on InP and transparent metamorphic grades with low dislocation densities. The solution to an integration challenge resulting from Zn diffusion in the GaAs junction is illustrated in a five-junction IMM. Excellent 1-sun performance is demonstrated in a complete 6J IMM device with VOC = 5.15 V, and a promising pathway toward >50% efficiency at high concentrations is presented.

Authors:

^[1];

^[1]; France, Ryan M. ^[1];

^[1];

^[1]

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

Publication Date:: Wed Dec 20 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:: 1417798

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5J00-68675
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: 8; Journal Issue: 2; 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; inverted metamorphic multijunction photovoltaics; concentrator solar cells; III-V semiconductor alloys

Citation Formats


                    Geisz, John F., Steiner, Myles A., Jain, Nikhil, Schulte, Kevin L., France, Ryan M., McMahon, William E., Perl, Emmett E., and Friedman, Daniel J. Building a Six-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Solar Cell.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
Web.  doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2778567.

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                    Geisz, John F., Steiner, Myles A., Jain, Nikhil, Schulte, Kevin L., France, Ryan M., McMahon, William E., Perl, Emmett E., & Friedman, Daniel J. Building a Six-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Solar Cell.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2778567

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                    Geisz, John F., Steiner, Myles A., Jain, Nikhil, Schulte, Kevin L., France, Ryan M., McMahon, William E., Perl, Emmett E., and Friedman, Daniel J. Wed .  
"Building a Six-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Solar Cell".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2778567.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1417798.

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@article{osti_1417798,

  title        = {Building a Six-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Solar Cell},

  author       = {Geisz, John F. and Steiner, Myles A. and Jain, Nikhil and Schulte, Kevin L. and France, Ryan M. and McMahon, William E. and Perl, Emmett E. and Friedman, Daniel J.},

  abstractNote = {We propose practical six-junction (6J) inverted metamorphic multijunction (IMM) concentrator solar cell designs with the potential to exceed 50% efficiency using moderately high quality junction materials. We demonstrate the top three junctions and their monolithic integration lattice matched to GaAs using 2.1-eV AlGaInP, 1.7-eV AlGaAs or GaInAsP, and 1.4-eV GaAs with external radiative efficiencies >0.1%. We demonstrate tunnel junctions with peak tunneling current >400 A/cm2 that are transparent to <2.1-eV light. We compare the bottom three GaInAs(p) junctions with bandgaps of 1.2, 1.0, and 0.7 eV grown on InP and transparent metamorphic grades with low dislocation densities. The solution to an integration challenge resulting from Zn diffusion in the GaAs junction is illustrated in a five-junction IMM. Excellent 1-sun performance is demonstrated in a complete 6J IMM device with VOC = 5.15 V, and a promising pathway toward >50% efficiency at high concentrations is presented.},

  doi          = {10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2778567},

  journal      = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},

  number       = 2,

  volume       = 8,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Dec 20 00:00:00 EST 2017},

  month        = {Wed Dec 20 00:00:00 EST 2017}

}

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Journal Article:

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https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2017.2778567

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Cited by: 101 works

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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1: Schematic for 6J design strategies. The second junction in any of these designs could also be composed of the 1.7eV quaternary Ga_.7In_.3As_.3P_.7

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Printed assemblies of microscale triple‐junction inverted metamorphic GaInP/GaAs/InGaAs solar cells
journal, March 2019

Gai, Boju; Geisz, John F.; Friedman, Daniel J.
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 27, Issue 6
DOI: 10.1002/pip.3127

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 54)
journal, June 2019

Green, Martin A.; Dunlop, Ewan D.; Levi, Dean H.
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 27, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1002/pip.3171

Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 55)
journal, December 2019

Green, Martin A.; Dunlop, Ewan D.; Hohl‐Ebinger, Jochen
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 28, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1002/pip.3228

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

Six-junction concentrator solar cells
conference, January 2018

Geisz, John F.; Steiner, Myles A.; Schulte, Kevin L.
14TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONCENTRATOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS (CPV-14), AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI: 10.1063/1.5053512

Simulating the Performance of Al _0.3 Ga _0.7 As/InP/Ge Multijunction Solar Cells under Variation of Spectral Irradiance and Temperature
journal, February 2019

Sumaryada, Tony; Rohaeni, Siti; Damayanti, Nurlia Eka
Modelling and Simulation in Engineering, Vol. 2019
DOI: 10.1155/2019/5090981

Non-Curing Thermal Interface Materials with Graphene Fillers for Thermal Management of Concentrated Photovoltaic Solar Cells
journal, December 2019

Mahadevan, Barath Kanna; Naghibi, Sahar; Kargar, Fariborz
C — Journal of Carbon Research, Vol. 6, Issue 1
DOI: 10.3390/c6010002

Figures / Tables found in this record:

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

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Similar Records

Title: Building a Six-Junction Inverted Metamorphic Concentrator Solar Cell

Abstract

Citation Formats

Figures / Tables:

Printed assemblies of microscale triple‐junction inverted metamorphic GaInP/GaAs/InGaAs solar cells journal, March 2019

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 54) journal, June 2019

Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 55) journal, December 2019

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

Six-junction concentrator solar cells conference, January 2018

Simulating the Performance of Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 As/InP/Ge Multijunction Solar Cells under Variation of Spectral Irradiance and Temperature journal, February 2019

Non-Curing Thermal Interface Materials with Graphene Fillers for Thermal Management of Concentrated Photovoltaic Solar Cells journal, December 2019

Printed assemblies of microscale triple‐junction inverted metamorphic GaInP/GaAs/InGaAs solar cells
journal, March 2019

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 54)
journal, June 2019

Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 55)
journal, December 2019

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

Six-junction concentrator solar cells
conference, January 2018

Simulating the Performance of Al _0.3 Ga _0.7 As/InP/Ge Multijunction Solar Cells under Variation of Spectral Irradiance and Temperature
journal, February 2019

Non-Curing Thermal Interface Materials with Graphene Fillers for Thermal Management of Concentrated Photovoltaic Solar Cells
journal, December 2019