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Increased Spectrum Utilization with GaAsP/SiGe Solar Cells Grown on Silicon Substrates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2016

Anastasia H. Soeriyadi,
Brianna Conrad,
Xin Zhao,
Dun Li,
Li Wang,
Anthony Lochtefeld,
Andrew Gerger,
Ivan Perez-Wurfl and
Allen Barnett
Anastasia H. Soeriyadi
Affiliation:
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales), Sydney 2052 Australia
Brianna Conrad
Affiliation:
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales), Sydney 2052 Australia
Xin Zhao
Affiliation:
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales), Sydney 2052 Australia
Dun Li
Affiliation:
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales), Sydney 2052 Australia
Li Wang
Affiliation:
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales), Sydney 2052 Australia
Anthony Lochtefeld
Affiliation:
AmberWave Inc., Salem, NH 03079 USA
Andrew Gerger
Affiliation:
SolAero Technologies Corp, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA
Ivan Perez-Wurfl
Affiliation:
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales), Sydney 2052 Australia
Allen Barnett*
Affiliation:
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Australia (The University of New South Wales), Sydney 2052 Australia
*
*(Email: allen.barnett@unsw.edu.au)
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Abstract

World-record solar-to-electricity energy conversion efficiency has been previously achieved by photovoltaic devices that maximize the use of the solar spectrum, such as multi-junction tandem solar cells. These cells are made of III-V materials whose high cost is a strong limitation on their widespread commercial application. One solution to suppress the cost of these types of devices is to grow III-V solar cells on low-cost carrier materials such as silicon. We will discuss the material, structure and analysis of GaAsP/SiGe-on-silicon multi-junction tandem solar cells. A low threading dislocation density is realized by effective lattice-matching of the top and bottom cells which demonstrate a device that achieves high open-circuit voltage in the top solar cell. The GaAsP/SiGe solar cells have reached a measured efficiency of 20.6% under one sun concentration. Analysis of these results based on the product of the best parameters shows efficiency potential of 26% under one sun, 30.8% at 20× and 35.1% at 400×.

Keywords

photovoltaicdevicesIII-V

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Articles
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MRS Advances , Volume 1 , Issue 43: Energy and Environment , 2016, pp. 2901 - 2906
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2016 

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References

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