Title :
Wide Band Gap Gallium Phosphide Solar Cells
Author :
Lu, Xuesong ; Huang, Susan ; Diaz, Martin B. ; Kotulak, Nicole ; Hao, Ruiying ; Opila, Robert ; Barnett, Allen
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
fDate :
4/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Gallium phosphide (GaP), with its wide band gap of 2.26 eV, is a good candidate for the top junction solar cell in a multijunction solar cell system. Here, we design, fabricate, characterize, and analyze GaP solar cells. Liquid phase epitaxy is used to grow the semiconductor layers. Four generations of GaP solar cells are developed and fabricated with each solar cell structure being designed and improved based on the first principles analyses of the predecessor solar cells. Quantum efficiency and current-voltage measurements are used to analyze the solar cell performance and to develop predictive models. We create a GaP solar cell with an efficiency of 2.42% under AM 1.5G one sun illumination.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; ab initio calculations; gallium compounds; liquid phase epitaxial growth; semiconductor epitaxial layers; solar cells; wide band gap semiconductors; GaP; GaP solar cells; current-voltage measurements; electron volt energy 2.26 eV; first principles analyses; gallium phosphide solar cells; liquid phase epitaxy; multijunction solar cell system; predecessor solar cells; quantum efficiency; semiconductor layers; solar cell performance; top junction solar cell; wide band gap; Epitaxial layers; Junctions; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Space charge; Sun; Gallium phosphide (GaP); liquid phase epitaxy (LPE); quantum efficiency (QE); wide band gap;
Journal_Title :
Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JPHOTOV.2011.2182180
