0.52eV Quaternary InGaAsSb Thermophotovoltaic Diode Technology

Dashiell, M. W.; Beausang, John F.; Nichols, G.; DePoy, D.M.; Danielson, L. R.; Ehsani, H.; Rahner, K; Azarkevich, J; Talamo, P.; Brown, E.; Burger, Sven; Fourspring, Patrick M.; Topper, W.F.; Baldasaro, P.F.; Wang, C. A.; Huang, R.K.; Connors, M.K.; Turner, G. W.; Shellenbarger, Z.A.; Taylor, G.; Li, Jizhong; Marinelli, R.; Donetski, Dmitri; Аникеев, С. Г.; Belenky, Gregory; Luryi, Serge; Taylor, Dan; Hazel, J.

doi:10.2172/837459

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The best experimental radiant heat to electricity conversion efficiency reported so far for a TPV device is of 23.6%, using a SiC emitter at 1039 °C and InGaAs (0.6 eV) single junction TPV cells conforming a monolithic interconnected module (MIM) [28], Similar values have been reported by other authors by using GaSb (0.74 eV) single junction TPV cells [29] and InGaAsSb (0.53 eV) quaternary compounds [30,31] 1450 °C and GaSb (0.74 eV) single junction TPV cells [32]. However, much higher efficiencies and power densities are achievable, at least theoretically, by TPV converters [1][2][3]33], In order to increase the conversion efficiency and power density of current state-of-the-art TPV converters, research focuses on both optimizing the semiconductor TPV cell structure and on finding the proper arrangements for tuning the spectrum of the radiation exchanged between the TPV cell and the emitter.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Optimum semiconductor bandgaps in single junction and multijunction thermophotovoltaic converters

Datas

2015

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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The choice of the optimum semiconductor for manufacturing thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells is not straightforward. In contrast to conventional solar photovoltaics (PV) where the optimum semiconductor bandgap is determined solely by the spectrum (and eventually the irradiance) of the incident solar light, in a TPV converter it depends on the emitter temperature and on the spectral control elements determining the net spectral power flux between the TPV cell and the emitter. Additionally, in TPV converters there is a tradeoff between power density and conversion efficiency that does not exist in conventional solar PV systems. Thus, the choice of the proper semiconductor compound in TPV converters requires a thorough analysis that has not been presented so far. This paper presents the optimum semiconductor bandgaps leading to the maximum efficiency and power density in TPV converters using both single junction and multijunction TPV cells. These results were obtained within the framework of the detailed balance theory and assuming only radiative recombination. Optimal bandgaps are provided as a function of the emitter and cell temperature, as well as the degree of spectral control. I show that multijunction TPV cells are excellent candidates to maximize both the efficiency and the power density simultaneously, eliminating the historical tradeoff between efficiency and power density of TPV converters. Finally, multijunction TPV cells are less sensitive to photon recycling losses, which suggest that they can be combined with relatively simple cut-off spectral control systems to provide practically-viable high performing TPV devices.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Optimum semiconductor bandgaps in single junction and multijunction thermophotovoltaic converters

Datas

2015

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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“…22,23 GaSb homoepitaxy is believed to start with island formation, and these islands eventually merge to create a uniform layer. The ideal IMFbased GaSb follows the same growth mode with a uniform distribution of 90 misfits in [110] or [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] direction. While the 90 misfits is the predominant strain relief mechanism of the IMF array, a minority of 60 misfits may still randomly nucleate and cause threading dislocations in the GaSb.…”

Section: à2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These materials include InGaAs grown on InP substrates, 2 and GaSb or InGaAsSb grown on GaSb substrates. 3,4 However, an InGaAs TPV cell lattice-matched to an InP substrate has a bandgap of 0.74 eV at room temperature, which sacrifices photon conversion for longer wavelengths. In contrast, InGaAsSb materials latticematched to GaSb substrates cover the entire wavelength range of interest.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

GaSb thermophotovoltaic cells grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy using interfacial misfit arrays

Juang

Laghumavarapu

Foggo

et al. 2015

Applied Physics Letters

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There exists a long-term need for foreign substrates on which to grow GaSb-based optoelectronic devices. We address this need by using interfacial misfit arrays to grow GaSb-based thermophotovoltaic cells directly on GaAs (001) substrates and demonstrate promising performance. We compare these cells to control devices grown on GaSb substrates to assess device properties and material quality. The room temperature dark current densities show similar characteristics for both cells on GaAs and on GaSb. Under solar simulation the cells on GaAs exhibit an open-circuit voltage of 0.121 V and a short-circuit current density of 15.5 mA/cm2. In addition, the cells on GaAs substrates maintain 10% difference in spectral response to those of the control cells over a large range of wavelengths. While the cells on GaSb substrates in general offer better performance than the cells on GaAs substrates, the cost-savings and scalability offered by GaAs substrates could potentially outweigh the reduction in performance. By further optimizing GaSb buffer growth on GaAs substrates, Sb-based compound semiconductors grown on GaAs substrates with similar performance to devices grown directly on GaSb substrates could be realized.

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“…Most of the recently reported GaInAsSb TPV cells operate in the range of 0.50-0.55 eV, and the optimal radiation temperature is 950°C [2] . The open circuit voltage (V OC ) is one of the most important characteristics for determining the energy conversion efficiency of a TPV cell.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[2]), J light is the light-generated current density, and J 0 is the dark current density. Based on Ref.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of carrier recombination mechanisms on the open circuit voltage of n+-p GaInAsSb thermophotovoltaic cells

Peng

Guo

Zhang

et al. 2010

Optoelectron. Lett.

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By analyzing the main recombination mechanisms in GaInAsSb materials, the dependences of the dark current density and open circuit voltage in n + -p GaInAsSb thermophotovoltaic cells on the recombination parameters, carrier concentration and cell thickness are calculated. The results show that the dark current mainly comes from p-region, and it is related with the surface and Auger recombinations in low and high carrier concentration ranges, respectively. The surface and Auger recombinations can be suppressed by reducing the surface recombination velocity and carrier concentration, respectively. The dark current density can be suppressed by optimizing material parameters and device surface passivation technique. So the high open circuit voltage can be obtained for GaInAsSb thermophotovoltaic cells.Quaternary alloys Ga x In 1-x As 1-y Sb y have the advantage of the versatility with a large range of energy gaps from 0.296 eV (4.2 m) to 0.726 eV (1.7 m) when they are lattice-matched with GaSb wafers, which covers the typical wavelength range of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells for the energy conversion under low temperature (800-1700°C) radiation [1] . Most of the recently reported GaInAsSb TPV cells operate in the range of 0.50-0.55 eV, and the optimal radiation temperature is 950°C [2] . The open circuit voltage (V OC ) is one of the most important characteristics for determining the energy conversion efficiency of a TPV cell. V OC is mainly determined by the dark current density (J 0 ), which is generated from carrier recombination mechanisms. The main carrier recombinations that affect the performance of GaInAsSb TPV cells are the radiative, Auger, bulk and surface/interface ShockleyRead-Hall (SRH) recombinations. It is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the effect of these parameters to design and fabricate optimal TPV cells. However, most of the published researches do not deal with this problem. Therefore, the theoretical analysis for the effect of carrier recombination parameters on V OC of Ga x In 1-x As 1-y Sb y based TPV cells is presented in this paper. The relationship between J 0 and material parameters is obtained by the theoretical analysis of recombination mechanisms, and then the effect of material parameters on V OC is discussed.The calculated results for Ga x In 1-x As 1-y Sb y alloys are with x of 0.8 and y of 0.82. And when they are lattice-matched with GaSb substrate, the corresponding bandgap energy (E g ) is 0.5 eV [1] . The cell structure is shown in Fig.1, and the substrate is GaSb.The operation and radiation temperature values are 27°C and 950°C, respectively. The thick p-region (d p >3 m) with d p : p-region thickness; d n : n-region thickness; S p : p-region minority carrier recombination velocity; S n : n-region minority carrier recombination velocity Fig.1 Simplified structure of a Ga x In 1-x As 1-y Sb y TPV cell

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0.52eV Quaternary InGaAsSb Thermophotovoltaic Diode Technology

Cited by 11 publications

References 7 publications

Optimum semiconductor bandgaps in single junction and multijunction thermophotovoltaic converters

Optimum semiconductor bandgaps in single junction and multijunction thermophotovoltaic converters

GaSb thermophotovoltaic cells grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy using interfacial misfit arrays

Effect of carrier recombination mechanisms on the open circuit voltage of n+-p GaInAsSb thermophotovoltaic cells

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