Molecular-beam epitaxy of GaAs/Si(001) structures for high-performance tandem A III B V/Si-solar energy converters on an active silicon substrate

Putyato, М. А.; Semyagin, B. R.; Emelyanov, E. A.; Pakhanov, N. A.; Преображенский, В. В.

doi:10.1007/s11182-011-9509-3

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Direct epitaxial growth thin films of III-V semiconductors on Si is challenging due to the high lattice mismatch between top and bottom cells which induces dislocations and introduces losses, preventing the development of highly-efficient devices. Although the introduction of buffer layers [7,8] can increase the cell efficiency, the improvement achieved with these techniques still lies below the performances obtained at Kaneka corporation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Growth optimization and characterization of regular arrays of GaAs/AlGaAs core/shell nanowires for tandem solar cells on silicon

et al. 2018

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With a band gap value of 1.7 eV, Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 As is one of the ideal III-V alloys for the development of nanowire-based Tandem Solar Cells on silicon. Nevertheless, growing self-catalysed AlGaAs nanowires on silicon by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy is a very difficult task due to the oxidation of Al adatoms by the SiO 2 layer present on the surface. Here we propose a nanowire structure including a p.i.n radial junction inside an Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 As shell grown on a p-GaAs core. The crystalline structure of such self-catalysed nanowires grown on an epi-ready Si(111) substrate (with a thin native SiO 2 layer) was investigated by transmission electronic microscopy and photoluminescence. I(V ) measurements performed on single nanowires have shown a diode-like behaviour corresponding to the radial p.i.n junction inside the Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 As shell. Moreover, a current generation under the electron beam was evidenced over the entire radial junction along the nanowires by means of electron beam induced current (EBIC) microscopy. The same structure was reproduced on patterned substrates with a SiO 2 mask, producing an ordered hexagonal array. High and uniform yields from 83% to 87% of vertical nanowires were obtained on 0.9×0.9 cm 2 patterned areas. EBIC mapping performed on these nanowires confirmed the good electrical properties of the radial junction within the nanowires.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Growth optimization and characterization of regular arrays of GaAs/AlGaAs core/shell nanowires for tandem solar cells on silicon

et al. 2018

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“…The work of Lueck et al [7] in the same year demonstrated similar techniques and achieved an efficiency of 17% under AM1.5G spectrum. Work in this field continues with Putyato et al [8] developing graded buffer approaches. While these methods have made progress, the efficiencies achieved remain subject to materials quality limitations due to the fundamental problem of high defect densities, despite the use of buffers to reduce them to acceptable levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing III-V multijunction solar cells on silicon

Connolly

Mencaraglia

Renard

et al. 2014

Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl.

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Single junction Si solar cells dominate photovoltaics but are close to their efficiency limits. This paper presents ideal limiting efficiencies for tandem and triple junction multijunction solar cells subject only to the constraint of the Si bandgap and therefore recommending optimum cell structures departing from the single junction ideal. The use of III-V materials is considered, using a novel growth method capable of yielding low defect density III-V layers on Si. In order to evaluate the real potential of these proposed multijunction designs, a quantitative model is presented, the strength of which is the joint modelling of external quantum efficiency and current-voltage characteristics using the same parameters. The method yields a single parameter fit in terms of the Shockley-Read-Hall lifetime. This model is validated by fitting experimental data of external quantum efficiency, dark current, and conversion efficiency of world record tandem and triple junction cells under terrestrial solar spectra without concentration. We apply this quantitative model to the design of tandem and triple junction solar cells, yielding cell designs capable of reaching efficiencies without concentration of 32% for the best tandem cell and 36% for the best triple junction cell. This demonstrates that efficiencies within a few percent of world records are realistically achievable without the use of concentrating optics, with growth methods being developed for multijunction cells combining III-V and Si materials.

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“…On Earth, many high efficiency concentrator solar cells rely on materials such as GaInNAs [12] and In0.3Ga0.7As [13] with low diffusion lengths, either due to intrinsic material quality or lattice mismatching with adjacent subcells. Similarly, in III-V-on-Si MJ tandems, lattice mismatching leads to high defect densities and low diffusion lengths in the III-V top cell [14][15][16]. All these technologies would be improved if one or more of the subcells could be thinned whilst maintaining strong photon absorption.…”

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confidence: 99%

Nanoparticle Scattering for Multijunction Solar Cells: The Tradeoff Between Absorption Enhancement and Transmission Loss

Mellor¹,

Hylton²,

Hauser

et al. 2016

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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Abstract-This paper contains a combined experimental and simulation study of the effect of Al and AlInP nanoparticles on the performance of multi-junction solar cells. In particular, we investigate oblique photon scattering by the nanoparticle arrays as a means of improving thinned subcells or those with low diffusion lengths, either inherently or due to radiation damage. Experimental results show the feasibility of integrating nanoparticle arrays into the ARCs of commercial InGaP/InGaAs/Ge solar cells, and computational results show that nanoparticle arrays can improve the internal quantum efficiency via optical path length enhancement. However, a design that improves the external quantum efficiency of a stateof-the-art cell has not been found, despite the large parameter space studied. We show a clear trade-off between oblique scattering and transmission loss, and present design principles and insights into how improvements can be made.

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Molecular-beam epitaxy of GaAs/Si(001) structures for high-performance tandem A III B V/Si-solar energy converters on an active silicon substrate

Cited by 9 publications

References 17 publications

Growth optimization and characterization of regular arrays of GaAs/AlGaAs core/shell nanowires for tandem solar cells on silicon

Growth optimization and characterization of regular arrays of GaAs/AlGaAs core/shell nanowires for tandem solar cells on silicon

Designing III-V multijunction solar cells on silicon

Nanoparticle Scattering for Multijunction Solar Cells: The Tradeoff Between Absorption Enhancement and Transmission Loss

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