Emitter structures in MOCVD InP solar cells

Author

Keavney, C. ; Haven, V. ; Vernon, S.

Author_Institution

Spire Corp., Bedford, MA, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

21-25 May 1990

Firstpage

141

Abstract

InP solar cells have been made by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) with a graded-junction or front-surface-field structure, in which the doping decreases from 3×10¹⁹ cm ^-3 at the surface to 3×10¹⁸ cm^-3 at the junction. Improvement was observed in the short-wavelength quantum efficiency and in the overall conversion efficiency relative to standard shallow-homojunction cells, indicating that the graded structure improved collection of carriers generated near the surface. A beginning-of-life conversion efficiency of 19.1% AM0 was measured on a 4-cm² cell. Measurements on similar cells showed an average of 4.7% degradation after irradiation with 10¹⁴-cm^-2 electrons at 1 MeV

Keywords

CVD coatings; III-V semiconductors; indium compounds; solar cells; 19.1 percent; InP solar cells; MOCVD; beginning-of-life conversion efficiency; carrier collection; emitter structures; front-surface-field structure; graded-junction; metalorganic chemical vapor deposition; overall conversion efficiency; semiconductor; short-wavelength quantum efficiency; Chemical vapor deposition; Degradation; Doping; Fingers; Gallium arsenide; Indium phosphide; MOCVD; Metallization; Photovoltaic cells; Region 3;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1990., Conference Record of the Twenty First IEEE

Conference_Location

Kissimmee, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1990.111606

Filename

111606