Title :
Effect of substrate quality on GaAs solar cell performances
Author :
Flores, C. ; Paletta, F. ; Passoni, D.
Author_Institution :
CISE SpA, Segrate, Italy
Abstract :
A study was made of the effect of substrate quality on the properties of GaAs/GaAlAs heterophase solar cells grown by liquid-phase epitaxy and optimized for space application. Extensive statistics were obtained by evaluating the performances of about one thousand 2*2 cm2 GaAs solar cells. The effects of the following substrate parameters were evaluated: dislocation density, carrier concentration, growth technique, kind of dopant, and manufacturer. It is shown that cell efficiency is strictly related to the substrate carrier concentration and minority carrier diffusion length. Cell efficiencies of 17% AM0 can be routinely achieved using the substrate as an active part of the device. No direct correlation is observed between cell efficiency and dislocation density up to 20000 defects/cm2.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; diffusion in solids; dislocation density; gallium arsenide; liquid phase epitaxial growth; minority carriers; p-n heterojunctions; semiconductor growth; solar cells; 17 percent; GaAs solar cell; GaAs-GaAlAs heterophase solar cells; carrier concentration; cell efficiency; dislocation density; dopant; growth technique; liquid-phase epitaxy; minority carrier diffusion length; semiconductor; space application; substrate parameters; substrate quality; Buffer layers; DSL; Epitaxial growth; Gallium arsenide; Manufacturing; Performance evaluation; Photovoltaic cells; Semiconductor device manufacture; Statistics; Substrates; Surface morphology; Tellurium;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1988., Conference Record of the Twentieth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Las Vegas, NV, USA
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1988.105776
