Heterogeneous integration of InGaN and Silicon solar cells for enhanced energy harvesting

Author

Das, N.C. ; Reed, M.L. ; Sampath, A.V. ; Shen, H. ; Wraback, M. ; Farrell, R.M. ; Iza, M. ; Cruz, S.C. ; Lang, J.R. ; Young, N.G. ; Terao, Y. ; Neufeld, C.J. ; Keller, S. ; Nakamura, S. ; DenBaars, S.P. ; Mishra, U.K. ; Speck, J.S.

Author_Institution

RDRL-SE-M, Army Res. Lab., Adelphi, MD, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

3-8 June 2012

Abstract

We report here enhanced solar energy harvesting using a hybrid solar cell with silicon solar cells (visible-infrared light) on bottom and an InGaN solar cell (UV light) on top. The InGaN solar cell with 30 QW periods has peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 40 % at 380 nm, an open circuit voltage (V_oc) of 2.0 V, a short circuit current (I_sc) of 0.8 mA/cm², and fill factor of 55%. We have demonstrated that the application of an InGaN “active window” to a silicon solar cell counterbalances the encapsulation power loss typically suffered during production of a solar panel.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; gallium compounds; indium compounds; silicon; solar cells; wide band gap semiconductors; InGaN; Si; UV light; active window; efficiency 40 percent; encapsulation power loss; enhanced solar energy harvesting; external quantum efficiency; fill factor; silicon solar cells; solar panel; voltage 2.0 V; Absorption; Coatings; Gallium nitride; Glass; Photovoltaic cells; Reflection; Silicon; InGaN solar cell; hybrid solar cell; photovoltaic cells; silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE

Conference_Location

Austin, TX

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-0064-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2012.6318231

Filename

6318231