Detailed Balance Calculation of a Novel Triple-Junction Solar Cell Structure

Ahn, Youngkun; Kim, Young‐Hwan; Kim, Seong‐Il

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2013.2262373

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, this 3‐J structure is not the optimum combination of materials with regard to efficiency, due to limitations associated with the lattice parameter of the Ge‐substrate and the current‐limiting GaAs middle cell during the growth of the cell. Theoretical calculations have indicated that the conversion efficiency of the new solar cell structure (consisted of quantum wells (QWs) or quantum dots (QDs)) could be increased to beyond 45% by extending the absorbed spectral range or using an intermediate band in the triple‐junction solar cell . The purpose of these designs is to improve the spectral response of the cell in the energy region below the absorption edge of host semiconductor, in order to gain an extra photocurrent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical and electrical characteristics of high‐efficiency InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple‐junction solar cell incorporated with InGaAs/GaAs QD layers in the middle cell

Lee

Yang

et al. 2015

Progress in Photovoltaics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study presents high efficiency InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple-junction (3-J) solar cells incorporated in the middle cell with layers of InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition to achieve 33.5% conversion efficiency (η) under one-sun AM 1.5 G illumination. We investigated the epitaxial structure and optical and electrical properties of InGaP/InGaAs/Ge 3-J solar cells with and without layers of QDs. We then measured X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), optical reflectance, dark and photovoltaic current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, external quantum efficiency (EQE) response, and capacitance-voltage (C-V) as a function of frequency under dark and illuminated conditions at room temperature. The use of 50 pairs of In 0.7 Ga 0.3 As (QD)/GaAs (Barrier) QD structure produced an impressive 35% enhancement in EQE at wavelengths of 900-930 nm. This resulted in a short-circuit current density of 15.43 mA/cm 2 , an open-circuit voltage of 2.54 V, a fill factor of 84.7%, and a η of 33.5%. The 3-J cell with the proposed layers of QDs also demonstrated a 1.0% absolute gain in efficiency compared with a reference cell without QDs. Our XRD, PL, and C-V results revealed that highly stacked InGaAs/GaAs QD layers of high quality can be grown with very little degradation in crystal quality and without the need for strain compensation techniques.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%