Strain-balanced materials for high-efficiency solar cells

Author

Ekins-Daukes, N.J. ; Zhang, J. ; Bushnell, D.B. ; Barnham, K.W.J. ; Mazzer, M. ; Roberts, J.S.

Author_Institution

Blackett Lab., Imperial Coll. of Sci., Technol. & Med., London, UK

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

1273

Lastpage

1276

Abstract

Traditionally, monolithic multi-junction solar cells have required lattice matched material combinations for efficient operation. However, strain-balanced structures allow lattice mismatched materials to be grown pseudomorphically, with low defect densities, and therefore offer interesting band-gap configurations for attaining optimal multi-junction solar cell structures. Several material combinations are identified and their suitability as highly efficient photovoltaic materials discussed; in particular In_xGa_1-xAs, GaAs_1-xP_x, GaInP and GaInNAs. Estimates for the limiting efficiency of strain-balanced multi-junction cells are presented, together with an outline of the technological requirements to achieve such cells

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; indium compounds; p-n heterojunctions; semiconductor device models; semiconductor growth; solar cells; GaAs_1-xP_x; GaInNAs; GaInP; In_xGa_1-xAs; InGaAs; band-gap configurations; defect density; high-efficiency solar cells; lattice mismatched materials; monolithic multi-junction solar cells; optimal multi-junction solar cell structures; photovoltaic materials; pseudomorphic growth; strain-balanced materials; Capacitive sensors; Gallium arsenide; Lattices; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Physics; Solar power generation; Stress; Substrates;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2000. Conference Record of the Twenty-Eighth IEEE

Conference_Location

Anchorage, AK

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5772-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2000.916122

Filename

916122