Title :
Three-terminal tandem solar cells with a back-contact type bottom cell
Author :
Nagashima, Tomonori ; Okumura, Kenichi ; Murata, Kiyohito ; Kimura, Yoshio
Author_Institution :
Higashifuji Tech. Center, Toyota Motor Corp., Shizuoka, Japan
Abstract :
In this paper, the authors analyze three-terminal tandem solar cells with a back-contact type bottom cell, in which III-V compound materials are stacked on a substrate of IV materials. This structure reduces loss resulting from current mismatch of the Ge bottom cell and resistance loss caused by tunnel junction at the GaAs/Ge interface. It is expected that the structure will achieve a high efficiency. They carried out calculations to find the relationship between carrier transportation characteristics and energy bands and to obtain I-V curves of the tandem solar cells. They found that the structure fulfills solar cell functions
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; energy gap; gallium arsenide; germanium; p-n heterojunctions; semiconductor device models; solar cells; GaAs-Ge solar cells; GaAs/Ge interface; Ge bottom cell; I-V curves; III-V compound materials; IV materials substrate; back-contact type bottom cell; carrier transportation characteristics; energy bands; resistance loss; solar cell functions; three-terminal tandem solar cells; tunnel junction; Analytical models; Electron emission; Gallium arsenide; Narrowband; Photoconductivity; Photovoltaic cells; Power generation; Road transportation; Solar power generation; Wideband;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2000. Conference Record of the Twenty-Eighth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Anchorage, AK
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5772-8
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2000.916102