III-V dilute nitride quantum-engineered solar cell for lattice-matched silicon-based tandems

Khim Kharel; Alexandre Freundlich

doi:10.1117/12.2510813

27 February 2019 III-V dilute nitride quantum-engineered solar cell for lattice-matched silicon-based tandems

Khim Kharel, Alexandre Freundlich

Proceedings Volume 10913, Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices VIII; 1091314 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2510813
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2019, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

This work investigates 1.7eV- 1.9 eV devices lattice matched to silicon where a p-i-n GaP solar cell, fabricated with an i-region that comprises a plurality of resonantly coupled quantum well of GaAsPN/GaP and investigates the evolution of the performance of these devices operating in tandem configuration with variety of advanced high efficiency silicon solar cells (i.e. HIT, PERC, PERT etc.).The band structures, evolution of bandgaps, and confinement energies are calculated using eight band k.p Hamiltonian that combines a Band Anti-Crossing model accounting for the incorporation of dilute amounts of nitrogen in the host matrix of a Kane-like semiconductor. The confinement energies are derived using a transfer matrix formalism and an envelope function approximation. Considering all possible electron/hole transitions, the optical absorption for coupled quantum well material systems are evaluated using the Fermi golden rule. Next, the performances of the targeted devices are analyzed within the framework of drift-diffusion model that incorporates realistic parameters extracted from past experiment along with demonstrated spectral response and I-V characteristic of record Si bottom cells. The study then explores the parameter design space and illumination conditions (AM0, AM1.5 and concentration) and identifies optimal parameters for achieving highest possible efficiency for each type of Si bottom cell. The study indicates the potential for 1 sun efficiencies exceeding 33% and 35% for series-connected two terminals and 4 terminal tandems respectively.

Citation Download Citation

Khim Kharel and Alexandre Freundlich "III-V dilute nitride quantum-engineered solar cell for lattice-matched silicon-based tandems", Proc. SPIE 10913, Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices VIII, 1091314 (27 February 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2510813

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