Pilot line production of high-efficiency GaAs solar cells

Author

Bertness, K.A. ; Ristow, M.Ladle ; Kuryla, M.S. ; Hamaker, H.C. ; Werthen, J.G.

Author_Institution

Variant Res. Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA

fYear

1989

fDate

6-11 Aug 1989

Firstpage

811

Abstract

Batches of GaAs solar cells with efficiencies exceeding 20% (one sun, AM0) have been fabricated in a recently established pilot line facility. These 2×2-cm² cells are grown in a multiwafer organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) reactor which has demonstrated good uniformity both from run to run and within a single run. The current-voltage characteristics of a typical cell include an open-circuit voltage of 1.05 V, a short-circuit current density of 32.7 mA/cm², and a fill factor of 0.84, resulting in an overall efficiency of 21.2%. A few cells show efficiencies as high as 22.0%. A study of the 34 cells which reached testing from the most recent lot shows that 92% of the cells have efficiencies of 20% or more

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; semiconductor device manufacture; semiconductor growth; solar cells; vapour phase epitaxial growth; 20 to 22 percent; GaAs solar cells; current-voltage characteristics; fill factor; high-efficiency; multiwafer organometallic vapor phase epitaxy; open-circuit voltage; pilot line production facility; semiconductor; short-circuit current density; solar cell fabrication; Current density; Current-voltage characteristics; Epitaxial growth; Gallium arsenide; Inductors; Photovoltaic cells; Production; Sun; Testing; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, 1989. IECEC-89., Proceedings of the 24th Intersociety

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IECEC.1989.74562

Filename

74562