Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

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 × 106 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 theirmore » 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]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. 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 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.
Copy to clipboard
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
Copy to clipboard
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.
Copy to clipboard
@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 × 106 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 = {Mon Jan 29 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Mon Jan 29 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5008517
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 40 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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
All figures and tables (7 total)
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

Calculation of Miscibility Gap in Quaternary InGaPAs with Strictly Regular Solution Approximation
journal, May 1982

  • Onabe, Kentaro
  • Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 21, Issue Part 1, No. 5
  • DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.21.797

Highly Transparent Compositionally Graded Buffers for New Metamorphic Multijunction Solar Cell Designs
journal, January 2017

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

Generalized Optoelectronic Model of Series-Connected Multijunction Solar Cells
journal, November 2015

Equivalent circuit analysis of radiative coupling in monolithic tandem solar cells
journal, June 2015

  • Lan, Dongchen; Green, Martin A.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 26
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4923209

Investigations on Al$_{\bm x}$Ga$_{\bm {1-x}}$As Solar Cells Grown by MOVPE
journal, January 2015

Band gap-voltage offset and energy production in next-generation multijunction solar cells
journal, November 2010

  • King, R. R.; Bhusari, D.; Boca, A.
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 19, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1002/pip.1044

Direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion via inverted metamorphic multi-junction semiconductor architectures
journal, March 2017

  • Young, James L.; Steiner, Myles A.; Döscher, Henning
  • Nature Energy, Vol. 2, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2017.28

Metamorphic GayIn1?yP/Ga1?xInxAs tandem solar cells for space and for terrestrial concentrator applications at C > 1000 suns
journal, January 2001

  • Dimroth, F.; Beckert, R.; Meusel, M.
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 9, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1002/pip.362

Solar cell generations over 40% efficiency: Solar cell generations over 40% efficiency
journal, April 2012

  • King, R. R.; Bhusari, D.; Larrabee, D.
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 20, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1002/pip.1255

Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p‐n Junction Solar Cells
journal, March 1961

  • Shockley, William; Queisser, Hans J.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 32, Issue 3, p. 510-519
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1736034

Limiting efficiencies for photovoltaic energy conversion in multigap systems
journal, September 1996

III–V Multijunction Solar Cell Integration with Silicon: Present Status, Challenges and Future Outlook
journal, January 2014

  • Jain, Nikhil; Hudait, Mantu K.
  • Energy Harvesting and Systems, Vol. 1, Issue 3-4
  • DOI: 10.1515/ehs-2014-0012

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 51)
journal, December 2017

  • Green, Martin A.; Hishikawa, Yoshihiro; Dunlop, Ewan D.
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 26, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1002/pip.2978

Enhanced Current Collection in 1.7 eV GaInAsP Solar Cells Grown on GaAs by Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy
journal, May 2017

High-efficiency GaInP∕GaAs∕InGaAs triple-junction solar cells grown inverted with a metamorphic bottom junction
journal, July 2007

  • Geisz, J. F.; Kurtz, Sarah; Wanlass, M. W.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 91, Issue 2, Article No. 023502
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.2753729

Impact of dislocation densities on n+∕p and p+∕n junction GaAs diodes and solar cells on SiGe virtual substrates
journal, July 2005

  • Andre, C. L.; Wilt, D. M.; Pitera, A. J.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 98, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1946194

Optical enhancement of the open-circuit voltage in high quality GaAs solar cells
journal, March 2013

  • Steiner, M. A.; Geisz, J. F.; García, I.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 113, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4798267

Approaching the Shockley-Queisser limit: General assessment of the main limiting mechanisms in photovoltaic cells
journal, January 2015

  • Vossier, Alexis; Gualdi, Federico; Dollet, Alain
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4905277

Solar Cell Generations over 40% Efficiency
text, January 2011

    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

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

    • Green, Martin A.; Hishikawa, Yoshihiro; Dunlop, Ewan D.
    • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 26, Issue 7
    • DOI: 10.1002/pip.3040

    Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 53)
    journal, December 2018

    • Green, Martin A.; Hishikawa, Yoshihiro; Dunlop, Ewan D.
    • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 27, Issue 1
    • DOI: 10.1002/pip.3102

    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

    Recent advances in dye-sensitized solar cells
    journal, November 2019

    • 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

      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      FIG. 1 (p. 2)figure
      FIG. 2 (p. 4)figure
      FIG. 3 (p. 5)figure
      FIG 4 (p. 6)figure
      TABLE I (p. 6)table
      FIG. 5 (p. 7)figure
      TABLE II (p. 7)table
        [ × clear filter / sort ]
        Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.

        Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: