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III-V Multi-Junction Materials and Solar Cells on Engineered SiGe/Si Substrates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Steven A. Ringel ,
Carrie L. Andre ,
Matthew Lueck ,
David Isaacson ,
Arthur J. Pitera ,
Eugene A. Fitzgerald  and
David M. Wilt
Steven A. Ringel
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2015. Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Carrie L. Andre
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2015. Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Matthew Lueck
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2015. Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
David Isaacson
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77. Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Arthur J. Pitera
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77. Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Eugene A. Fitzgerald
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77. Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
David M. Wilt
Affiliation:
Photovoltaic and Space Environments Branch, NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000. Brook Park Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44135, USA
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Abstract

The monolithic integration of high efficiency III-V compound solar cell materials and devices with lower-cost, robust and scaleable Si substrates has been a driving force in photovoltaics (PV) basic research for decades. Recent advances in controlling mismatch-induced defects that result from structural and chemical differences between III-V solar cell materials and Si using a combination of SiGe interlayers and monolayer-scale control of III-V/IV interfaces, have led to a series of fundamental advances at the material and device levels, which establish that the great potential of III-V/Si PV is within reach. These include demonstrations of GaAs epitaxial layers on Si that are anti-phase domain-free with verified dislocation densities at or below 1×106 cm−2 and negligible interface diffusion, minority carrier lifetimes for GaAs on Si in excess of 10 ns, single junction GaAs-based solar cells on Si with open circuit voltages (Voc) in excess of 980 mV, efficiencies beyond 18%, and area-independent PV characteristics up to at least 4 cm2. These advances are attributed in large part to the use of a novel “engineered Si substrate” based on compositionally-graded SiGe buffers such that a high-quality, low defect density, relaxed, “virtual” Ge substrate could be developed that can support lattice-matched III-V epitaxy and thus merge III-V technology based on the GaAs (or Ge) lattice constant with Si wafers. This paper focuses on recent results that extend this work to the first demonstration of high performance III-V dual junction solar cells on SiGe/Si. Open circuit voltages in excess of 2 V at one-sun have been obtained for the conventionally “lattice-matched” In0.49Ga0.51P/GaAs dual junction cells on inactive, engineered SiGe/Si; to our knowledge is the first demonstration of > 2V solar power generation on a Si wafer. Comparisons with identical cells on GaAs substrates reveal that the Voc on engineered Si retains more than 94% of its homoepitaxial value, and that at present both DJ/GaAs and DJ/SiGe/Si cells are similarly limited by current mismatch in these early cells, and not fundamental defect factors associated with the engineered Si substrates.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 836: Symposium L – Materials for Photovoltaics , 2004 , L6.2
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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References

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