Analytical Model of InP QWs for Efficiency Improvement in GaInP/Si Dual Junction Solar Cell. Issue 3 (29th December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Verma, Manish; Mishra, Guru Prasad
• Is Part Of: Physica status solidi. Volume 220:Issue 3(2023)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-12-29
• Subjects: electric field -- III–V/Si dual junction -- passivation -- quantum wells -- type-A islands; Solid state physics -- Periodicals; Solids -- Industrial applications -- Periodicals; 530.41
• DOI: 10.1002/pssa.202200500
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1862-6300

Abstract

Abstract : Quantum wells (QWs) are proven to enhance the short circuit current I sc and voltage preservation measures help in efficiency enhancement with little degradation of open circuit voltage V oc . Herein, an integrated GaInP/Si dual junction solar cell is proposed by incorporating the QWs in the top cell and carrier‐selective passivated contact at the bottom cell of the design. The QW increases the photon absorption of sub‐bandgap energies, buffer layer reduces the misfits between the lattice mismatched layers, and passivation mechanism improves the overall efficiency. Increasing the number of QWs increases the depletion width of QW region. This reduces the carrier lifetime ( τ n ) and increases the recombinations in the QW region. It results in the reduction in passivation quality and, therefore, reduces the open circuit voltage ( V oc ). QW strain balancing and measures to reduce the threading dislocations has been considered. Also, the wide bandgap GaInP tunnel junction along with highly doped GaAs tunnel junction has been analyzed to observe the parasitic effect. The GaInP/Si‐integrated model achieves efficiency of 33.39% when the QWs are incorporated in the top cell. The effect of wide bandgap tunnel junction is also evaluated using GaInP tunnel junction. Abstract : In the designed model, top cell utilizes 300–600 nm wavelength and bottom cell utilizes 600–1100 nm wavelength of the spectrum. Some sub‐bandgap energy is lost due to thermal loss. The type‐A InP quantum wells absorb sub‐bandgap photon energy and convert it into photogenerated carriers to enhance quantum efficiency. The designed model with quantum wells achieves efficiency of 33.39%.