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Title: High-efficiency inverted metamorphic 1.7/1.1 eV GaInAsP/GaInAs dual-junction solar cells

Abstract

Photovoltaic conversion efficiencies of 32.6 +/- 1.4% under the AM1.5 G173 global spectrum, and 35.5 +/- 1.2% at 38-suns concentration under the direct spectrum, are demonstrated for a monolithic, dual-junction 1.7/1.1 eV solar cell. The tandem cell consists of a 1.7 eV GaInAsP top-junction grown lattice-matched to a GaAs substrate, followed by a metamorphic 1.1 eV GaInAs junction grown on a transparent, compositionally graded metamorphic AlGaInAs buffer. This bandgap combination is much closer to the dual-junction optimum and offers headroom for absolute 3% improvement in efficiency, in comparison to the incumbent lattice-matched GaInP/GaAs (~1.86/1.41 eV) solar cells. The challenge of growing a high-quality 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cell is the propensity for phase separation in the GaInAsP alloy. The challenge of lattice-mismatched GaInAs solar cell growth is that it requires minimizing the residual dislocation density during the growth of a transparent compositionally graded buffer to enable efficient metamorphic tandem cell integration. Transmission electron microscopy reveals relatively weak composition fluctuation present in the 1.7 eV GaInAsP alloy, attained through growth control. The threading dislocation density of the GaInAs junction is ~1 x 10^6 cm-2, as determined from cathodoluminescence measurements, highlighting the quality of the graded buffer. These material advances have enabledmore » the performance of both junctions to reach over 80% of their Shockley-Queisser limiting efficiencies, with both the subcells demonstrating a bandgap-voltage offset, WOC (=Eg/q-VOC), of ~0.39 V.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
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  1. 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), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1422877
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1419368
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5J00-70892
Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951; TRN: US1801665
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 112; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; III-V; multijunction; solar cell; lattice-mismatch; IMM

Citation Formats

Jain, Nikhil, Schulte, Kevin L., Geisz, John F., Friedman, Daniel J., France, Ryan M., Perl, Emmett E., Norman, Andrew G., Guthrey, Harvey L., and Steiner, Myles A. High-efficiency inverted metamorphic 1.7/1.1 eV GaInAsP/GaInAs dual-junction solar cells. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5008517.
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Jain, Nikhil, Schulte, Kevin L., Geisz, John F., Friedman, Daniel J., France, Ryan M., Perl, Emmett E., Norman, Andrew G., Guthrey, Harvey L., & Steiner, Myles A. High-efficiency inverted metamorphic 1.7/1.1 eV GaInAsP/GaInAs dual-junction solar cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5008517
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Jain, Nikhil, Schulte, Kevin L., Geisz, John F., Friedman, Daniel J., France, Ryan M., Perl, Emmett E., Norman, Andrew G., Guthrey, Harvey L., and Steiner, Myles A. Mon . "High-efficiency inverted metamorphic 1.7/1.1 eV GaInAsP/GaInAs dual-junction solar cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5008517. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1422877.
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@article{osti_1422877,
title = {High-efficiency inverted metamorphic 1.7/1.1 eV GaInAsP/GaInAs dual-junction solar cells},
author = {Jain, Nikhil and Schulte, Kevin L. and Geisz, John F. and Friedman, Daniel J. and France, Ryan M. and Perl, Emmett E. and Norman, Andrew G. and Guthrey, Harvey L. and Steiner, Myles A.},
abstractNote = {Photovoltaic conversion efficiencies of 32.6 +/- 1.4% under the AM1.5 G173 global spectrum, and 35.5 +/- 1.2% at 38-suns concentration under the direct spectrum, are demonstrated for a monolithic, dual-junction 1.7/1.1 eV solar cell. The tandem cell consists of a 1.7 eV GaInAsP top-junction grown lattice-matched to a GaAs substrate, followed by a metamorphic 1.1 eV GaInAs junction grown on a transparent, compositionally graded metamorphic AlGaInAs buffer. This bandgap combination is much closer to the dual-junction optimum and offers headroom for absolute 3% improvement in efficiency, in comparison to the incumbent lattice-matched GaInP/GaAs (~1.86/1.41 eV) solar cells. The challenge of growing a high-quality 1.7 eV GaInAsP solar cell is the propensity for phase separation in the GaInAsP alloy. The challenge of lattice-mismatched GaInAs solar cell growth is that it requires minimizing the residual dislocation density during the growth of a transparent compositionally graded buffer to enable efficient metamorphic tandem cell integration. Transmission electron microscopy reveals relatively weak composition fluctuation present in the 1.7 eV GaInAsP alloy, attained through growth control. The threading dislocation density of the GaInAs junction is ~1 x 10^6 cm-2, as determined from cathodoluminescence measurements, highlighting the quality of the graded buffer. These material advances have enabled the performance of both junctions to reach over 80% of their Shockley-Queisser limiting efficiencies, with both the subcells demonstrating a bandgap-voltage offset, WOC (=Eg/q-VOC), of ~0.39 V.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5008517},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 5,
volume = 112,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {1}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5008517
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Cited by: 36 works
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Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1 FIG. 1: Modeled iso-efficiency of series-connected, dual-junction solar cells as a function of the room temperature bandgaps, under AM1.5 G173 spectrum at 1000 W/m2. Contours in red represent the Shockley-Queisser7 limit and contours in blue represent a more realistic case assuming a WOC of 0.4 V for both junctions. Themore » black dot represents the dual-junction record of 32.8% achieved using lattice-matched GaInP/GaAs alloys. The green triangle shows the bandgaps of the tandem in this manuscript, ~1.7/1.1 eV.« less
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Solar cell efficiency tables (version 52)
    journal, June 2018

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    • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 26, Issue 7
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    Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 53)
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    • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 27, Issue 1
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    Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 55)
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    • Green, Martin A.; Dunlop, Ewan D.; Hohl‐Ebinger, Jochen
    • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 28, Issue 1
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    Recent advances in dye-sensitized solar cells
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    • Rondán-Gómez, V.; Montoya De Los Santos, I.; Seuret-Jiménez, D.
    • Applied Physics A, Vol. 125, Issue 12
    • DOI: 10.1007/s00339-019-3116-5

    Higher efficiency tandem solar cells through composite-cell current matching
    journal, January 2019

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      FIG 4 (p. 6)figure
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      FIG. 5 (p. 7)figure
      TABLE II (p. 7)table
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