Simulations, Practical Limitations, and Novel Growth Technology for InGaN-Based Solar Cells

Author

Fabien, Chloe A. M. ; Moseley, Michael ; Gunning, Brendan ; Doolittle, W. Alan ; Fischer, A.M. ; Wei, Yong O. ; Ponce, F.A.

Author_Institution

Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

Volume

4

Issue

2

fYear

2014

fDate

Mar-14

Firstpage

601

Lastpage

606

Abstract

Indium gallium nitride (InGaN) alloys exhibit substantial potential for high-efficiency photovoltaics. However, theoretical promise still needs to be experimentally realized. This paper presents a detailed theoretical study to provide guidelines to achieve high-efficiency InGaN solar cells. While the efficiency of heterojunction devices is limited to ~11%, homojunction devices can achieve suitable efficiencies, provided that highly p-type-doped InGaN layers and thick, single-phase InGaN films can be grown. Thus, we have developed a novel growth technology that facilitates growth of p-type nitride films with greatly improved hole concentration and growth of InGaN without phase separation, offering promise for future high-efficiency InGaN solar cells.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium compounds; hole density; indium compounds; semiconductor growth; semiconductor heterojunctions; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; wide band gap semiconductors; InGaN; InGaN-based solar cells; growth technology; heterojunction devices; high-efficiency photovoltaics; hole concentration; homojunction devices; p-type nitride films; p-type-doped layers; single-phase films; Gallium nitride; Indium; PIN photodiodes; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Crystal microstructure; doping; indium gallium nitride (InGaN); semiconductor device modeling; semiconductor growth; solar cell;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-3381

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2292748

Filename

6683005