Lattice matchable alloy for solar cells

a technology of solar cells and alloys, applied in the field of multijunction solar cells, can solve the problems of preventing effective photocarrier collection, wasting extra current, and not optimally combining structures, and achieve the effect of improving the performance of the disclosed solar cells

Inactive Publication Date: 2011-09-29
CACTUS MATERIALS INC
View PDF36 Cites 50 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The invention described herein reflects a further refinement of work described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/217,818, including the discovery and identificat

Problems solved by technology

This structure is not optimal for efficiency, in that the bottom junction can generate roughly twice the short circuit current of the upper two junctions, as reported by J. F. Geisz et al., “Inverted GaInP/(In)GaAs/InGaAs triple junction solar cells with low-stress metamorphic bottom junctions,”Proceedings of the 33rd IEEE PVSC Photovoltaics Specialists Conference, 2008.
Thi

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Lattice matchable alloy for solar cells
  • Lattice matchable alloy for solar cells
  • Lattice matchable alloy for solar cells

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment Construction

[0021]FIG. 1A is a schematic cross-section showing an example of a triple junction solar cell 10 according to the invention consisting essentially of a low Sb, enhanced In and N

[0022]GaInNAsSb subcell 12 adjacent the Ge, GaAs or otherwise compatible substrate 14 with a top subcell 16 of (Al)InGaP and a middle subcell 18 using (In)GaAs. Tunnel junction 20 is between subcells 16 and 18, while tunnel junction 22 is between subcells 18 and 12. Each of the subcells 12, 16, 18 comprises several associated layers, including front and back surface fields, an emitter and a base. The named subcell material (e.g., (In)GaAs) forms the base layer, and may or may not form the other layers.

[0023]Low Sb, enhanced In and N GaInNAsSb subcells may also be incorporated into multijunction solar cells with four or more junctions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. FIG. 1B shows one such four-junction solar cell 100 with a specific low Sb, enhanced In and N GaInNAsSb subcell 12 a...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to view more

PUM

PropertyMeasurementUnit
Energyaaaaaaaaaa
Lattice constantaaaaaaaaaa
Compositionaaaaaaaaaa
Login to view more

Abstract

An alloy composition for a subcell of a solar cell is provided that has a bandgap of at least 0.9 eV, namely, Ga1-xInxNyAs1-y-zSbz with a low antimony (Sb) content and with enhanced indium (In) content and enhanced nitrogen (N) content, achieving substantial lattice matching to GaAs and Ge substrates and providing both high short circuit currents and high open circuit voltages in GaInNAsSb subcells for multijunction solar cells. The composition ranges for Ga1-xInxNyAs1-y-zSbz are 0.07≦x≦0.18, 0.025≦y≦0.04 and 0.001≦z≦0.03.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]NOT APPLICABLESTATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]NOT APPLICABLEREFERENCE TO A “SEQUENCE LISTING,” A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISK[0003]NOT APPLICABLEBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0004]The present invention relates to multijunction solar cells, and in particular to high efficiency solar cells comprised of III-V semiconductor alloys.[0005]Multijunction solar cells made primarily of III-V semiconductor alloys are known to produce solar cell efficiencies exceeding efficiencies of other types of photovoltaic materials. Such alloys are combinations of elements drawn from columns III and V of the standard Periodic Table, identified hereinafter by their standard chemical symbols, names and abbreviation. (Those of skill in the art can identify their class of semiconductor properties by class without specific reference to their column.) The high...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to view more

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to view more
IPC IPC(8): H01L31/0304C22C30/00H01L31/18
CPCC22C28/00H01L31/0735H01L31/1848H01L31/0725H01L31/078Y02E10/544H01L31/0304H01L31/03048C22C30/00Y10T428/12Y02P70/50H01L31/00H01L31/04C30B23/025C30B23/066C30B29/40C30B33/02H01L31/03046H01L31/036H01L31/1844H01L31/1852
Inventor JONES, REBECCA ELIZABETHYUEN, HOMAN BERNARDLIU, TINGMISRA, PRANOB
Owner CACTUS MATERIALS INC
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Try Eureka
PatSnap group products

Browse by: Latest US Patents, China's latest patents, Technical Efficacy Thesaurus, Application Domain, Technology Topic.

© 2024 PatSnap. All rights reserved.Legal|Privacy policy|Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement|Sitemap