Solar cell technology on the base of III-V heterostructures

Abstract

Low-cost single-junction GaAs solar cells on the base of p-AlGaAs/p-GaAs/ n-GaAs heterostructures grown by low-temperature liquid-phase epitaxy have been fabricated. For analyzing the factors contributing to solar cell efficiency the program products PC1D have been used. The optimal doping concentrations and thicknesses of the layers which correspond to the maximum values of the solar cell output parameters have been determined. The multilayer solar cell structure has been optimized on the base of this simulation. Low cost technological processes and masks, necessary for fabrication of the cells on the base of the grown heterostructures, have been developed, too. The front and back metallization of the cell is Ni/Al system deposited by magnetron sputtering. A double layer Al2O3 /ZrO2 antireflection coating is deposited on the front side of a solar cell structure by the spin coating technique. The conversion efficiencies of 19 % at one sun AM1.5 conditions have been measured. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.