High-efficiency, thin-film InP concentrator solar cells

Author

Wanlass, M.W. ; Coutts, T.J. ; Ward, J.S. ; Emery, K.A. ; Horner, G.S.

Author_Institution

Solar Energy Res. Inst., Golden, CO, USA

fYear

1991

fDate

8-11 Apr 1991

Firstpage

40

Lastpage

47

Abstract

The fabrication and characterization of thin-film InP solar cells designed for operation at high solar concentration (~100 suns) which have been prepared from similar device structures grown on GaAs substrates are discussed. The cell performance is characterized as a function of the air mass zero (AM0) solar concentration ratio (1-100 suns) and operating temperature (25°-80°C). From these data, the temperature coefficients of the cell performance parameters are derived as a function of the concentration ratio. Under concentration, the cells exhibit a dramatic increase in efficiency and an improved temperature coefficient of efficiency. At 25°C, a peak conversion efficiency of 18.9% (71.8 suns. AM0 spectrum) is reported. At 80°C, the peak AM0 efficiency is 15.7% at 75.6 suns. Approaches for further improving the cell performance are discussed

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; indium compounds; semiconductor growth; solar cells; vapour phase epitaxial growth; 15.7 percent; 18.9 percent; 25 to 80 C; AM0 efficiency; GaAs substrates; III-V semiconductor; InP solar cells; MOVPE; air mass zero; cell performance; efficiency; fabrication; heteroepitaxial; high solar concentration; high-efficiency thin film solar cells; operating temperature; peak conversion efficiency; solar concentration ratio; temperature coefficients; Costs; Fabrication; Gallium arsenide; Indium phosphide; Photovoltaic cells; Substrates; Sun; Temperature; Thermal conductivity; Transistors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Indium Phosphide and Related Materials, 1991., Third International Conference.

Conference_Location

Cardiff

Print_ISBN

0-87942-626-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICIPRM.1991.147289

Filename

147289