Analysis of high growth rate MOCVD structures by solar cell device measurements

Metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) tools are integral to many technologies, including the growth of high-efficiency multijunction III-V solar cells. Veeco MOCVD has recently developed new tool designs that allow increased MOCVD growth rates that could drastically increase solar cell throughput and reduce manufacturing costs. It is important, however, to understand the trade-offs between increased throughput and decreased material quality and device performance. We fabricate multijunction III-V solar cells from materials grown by both standard and fast growth rate techniques. We analyze the open circuit voltage, short circuit current, fill factor, efficiency, and ideality factor of both types of devices. Comparison of these devices reveals that the existing fast growth protocols result in solar cells with similar performance to standard growth cells. The results suggest that increased growth rates can enable higher throughput fabrication of solar cells without significant performance sacrifices.