Current-matched triple-junction solar cell reaching 41.

1% conversion
efficiency under concentrated sunlight
Wolfgang Guter, Jan Schne, Simon P. Philipps, Marc Steiner, Gerald Siefer et al.

Citation: Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 223504 (2009); doi: 10.1063/1.3148341
View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3148341
View Table of Contents: http://apl.aip.org/resource/1/APPLAB/v94/i22
Published by the American Institute of Physics.

Related Articles
Efficient, bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic cells based on boron subphthalocyanine chloride-C70
APL: Org. Electron. Photonics 5, 157 (2012)
Efficient, bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic cells based on boron subphthalocyanine chloride-C70
Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 033308 (2012)
CdS buffer-layer free highly efficient ZnO-CdSe photoelectrochemical cells
Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 033906 (2012)
Transparent conductive electrodes of mixed TiO2xindium tin oxide for organic photovoltaics
Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 213302 (2012)
Transparent conductive electrodes of mixed TiO2xindium tin oxide for organic photovoltaics
APL: Org. Electron. Photonics 5, 115 (2012)

Additional information on Appl. Phys. Lett.
Journal Homepage: http://apl.aip.org/
Journal Information: http://apl.aip.org/about/about_the_journal
Top downloads: http://apl.aip.org/features/most_downloaded
Information for Authors: http://apl.aip.org/authors
Downloaded 11 Oct 2012 to 152.14.136.96. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://apl.aip.org/about/rights_and_permissions
Current-matched triple-junction solar cell reaching 41.1% conversion
efciency under concentrated sunlight
Wolfgang Guter,
a
Jan Schne, Simon P. Philipps, Marc Steiner, Gerald Siefer,
Alexander Wekkeli, Elke Welser, Eduard Oliva, Andreas W. Bett, and Frank Dimroth
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Heidenhofstr. 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
Received 8 April 2009; accepted 13 May 2009; published online 1 June 2009
A metamorphic Ga
0.35
In
0.65
P/ Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As/ Ge triple-junction solar cell is shown to provide
current-matching of all three subcells and thus composes a device structure with virtually ideal band
gap combination. We demonstrate that the key for the realization of this device is the improvement
of material quality of the lattice-mismatched layers as well as the development of a highly relaxed
Ga
1y
In
y
As buffer structure between the Ge substrate and the middle cell. This allows the
metamorphic growth with low dislocation densities below 10
6
cm
2
. The performance of the
approach has been demonstrated by a conversion efciency of 41.1% at 454 suns 454 kW/ m
2
,
AM1.5d ASTM G17303. 2009 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.3148341
Multiple stacking of solar cells with increasing band
gap energies increases the efciency of the overall device
since the solar spectrum is exploited more protably. The
currently most promising realization of this approach is the
III-V-based triple-junction solar cell. The state-of-the-art
device is a lattice-matched triple-junction solar cell consist-
ing of monolithically stacked Ga
0.5
In
0.5
P, Ga
0.99
In
0.01
As, and
Ge junctions. It has reached conversion efciencies of 40.1%
at concentrations of 135 suns 1 sun corresponds to
1 kW/ m
2
under the AM1.5d low aerosol optical depth
AOD spectrum.
1
Yet, detailed-balance
2
calculations show
that the band gap combination of the lattice-matched design
is not optimally adjusted to the solar spectrum. This is why
different approaches have been suggested how to achieve
current-matching.
35
Presently the use of metamorphic struc-
tures proves to be the most promising strategy. This paper
reports on a metamorphic Ga
0.35
In
0.65
P/ Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As/ Ge
triple-junction solar cell achieving current-matching of all
subcells under the standard AM1.5d spectrum.
Figure 1 shows how the conversion efciency of a triple-
junction solar cell varies with the band gap energies of the
three individual junctions. This diagram has been calculated
with the model EtaOpt
6
assuming an external quantum ef-
ciency EQE of unity for each subcell, but allowing for
transferring current from an upper subcell to a lower one by
thinning the layers and hence making them partially trans-
parent. The efciency is calculated in the detailed balance
limit. From our experience, realistic solar cells may reach up
to 75% of their theoretical efciency, and hence this theoret-
ical model provides a guideline to assess various triple-
junction solar cell designs with high efciency potential.
However, in practice, not all band gap combinations are fea-
sible due to material restrictions. The band gap combinations
of ve favorable triple-junction solar cell approachesall
leading to efciencies higher than 40%are also plotted in
Fig. 1. From this graph, Ge with its band gap of 0.66 eV is
the obvious choice as bottom cell. The straight-forward
lattice-matched Ga
0.5
In
0.5
P/ Ga
0.99
In
0.01
As/ Ge LM solar
cell is todays state-of-the-art technology
1,7,8
and has been
leading to 40.1% conversion efciency. However, this struc-
ture appears to be quite far away from the optimum band gap
conguration and will be highly current-mismatched. The
global efciency maximum for a triple-junction solar cell
under the AM1.5d ASTM G17303 spectrum lies at a band
gap combination of 1.74, 1.17, and 0.70 eV. Hence, meta-
morphic solar cells with a more ideal band gap combination
have been investigated. Efciencies up to 40.7%
1,9
were
reached for a Ga
0.44
In
0.56
P/ Ga
0.92
In
0.08
As/ Ge cell structure
MM1 with a slightly increased indium content in the upper
subcells compared to the lattice-matched structure. By in-
creasing the indium content in the top and middle subcells,
a
Electronic mail: wolfgang.guter@ise.fraunhofer.de.
FIG. 1. Color online Detailed balance calculations with EtaOpt for the
efciency of different triple-junction solar cell structures under the AM1.5d
ASTM G17303 spectrum at 500 kW/ m
2
and 298 K. The black dots
represent structures with efciencies from 60.5% to 61.0% and hence
mark the optimal band gap combinations. The gray dots represent structures
with an efciency of 59.0%60.5% see contours. Five specic triple-
junction solar cell structures are also shown. The lattice-matched
Ga
0.5
In
0.5
P/ Ga
0.99
In
0.01
As/ Ge LM, two metamorphic GaInP/GaInAs/Ge
1.8, 1.29, 0.66 eV for MM1 and 1.67, 1.18, 0.66 eV for MM2, as well
as two inverted metamorphic GaInP/GaInAs/GaInAs 1.83, 1.40, 1.00 eV
for Inv1 and 1.83, 1.34, 0.89 eV for Inv2 devices.
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 94, 223504 2009
0003-6951/2009/9422/223504/3/$25.00 2009 American Institute of Physics 94, 223504-1
Downloaded 11 Oct 2012 to 152.14.136.96. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://apl.aip.org/about/rights_and_permissions
the metamorphic triple-junction solar cell approach approxi-
mates the optimum conguration. However, the nearly ideal
combination of Ga
0.35
In
0.65
P, Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As, and Ge with
band gap energies of 1.67, 1.18, and 0.66 eV causes a high
lattice-mismatch of 1.1% between the Ge and the upper two
subcells. This metamorphic cell structure MM2 was devel-
oped at Fraunhofer ISE,
8,1012
and is investigated in this pa-
per. To overcome the high mismatch of the materials, we
have developed an optimized step-graded buffer structure
made from Ga
1y
In
y
As. Hence, the Ga
0.35
In
0.65
P 1.67 eV
and the Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As 1.18 eV subcells can be grown
lattice-matched to each other, but mismatched to the Ge sub-
strate while the generation of mist dislocations in the top
and middle cell can be avoided.
A local efciency maximum with only 2.5% rel. lower
efciency appears at a higher band gap combination of 1.86,
1.33, and 0.93 eV Fig. 1. The gap between the two maxima
results from the absorption band of atmospheric water and
carbon dioxide around 1400 nm, which signicantly deterio-
rates the efciency in this region. The solar cell structures
reaching closest to this second efciency maximum Inv1
and Inv2 in Fig. 1 use an inverted metamorphic design
13
with one or two buffer structures, including a metamorphic
GaInAs bottom subcell with a large lattice-mismatch of 1.9%
or 2.6%, respectively. Conversion efciencies of up to 40.8%
under the AM1.5d low AOD spectrum at 326 suns have been
achieved. One drawback of this approach is the more com-
plex processing involving wafer transfer techniques.
The structure of the metamorphic Ga
0.35
In
0.65
P/
Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As/ Ge triple-junction solar cell was grown in an
industrial size AIX2600-G3 horizontal planetary metal-
organic vapor-phase epitaxy reactor at 70 mbar and tempera-
tures between 600 and 700 C. Ge 100 substrates with an
offcut of 6 toward 111 were used. An essential part for the
metamorphic solar cell structure is the buffer layer, which
consists of seven 200 nm thick GaInAs layers with stepwise
increased indium content from 1% to 17% Fig. 2. The mis-
t dislocations generated in the buffer during the relaxation
of the lattice strain are well conned at the interfaces be-
tween the layers with different In content. The mist dislo-
cations are aligned horizontally
12
and thus hindered from
penetrating into parts of the solar cell structure where minor-
ity carriers are generated. By means of transmission electron
microscopy TEM no threading dislocations have been
found to penetrate into the upper layers. TEM images over
several microns indicate a dislocation density below
10
6
cm
3
in the subcells. A 200 nm thick overshooting
Ga
0.80
In
0.20
As layer with an even larger lattice constant than
Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As further increases the relaxation in the underly-
ing buffer layers to about 90% conrmed by high resolution
x-ray diffraction reciprocal space mappings. The thickness
and the lattice-constant of the overshooting layer have been
proven to be crucial parameters for the adjustment of the
strain relaxation. The tunnel diodes consist of an intrinsically
carbon doped p-AlGaInAs layer and a Te-doped n-GaInP
layer, and avoid the generation of dislocations by good
lattice-match to the surrounding layers.
10
The diodes achieve
maximum tunnel current densities in the range of
1525 A/ cm
2
. Hence, the cell can be operated at high con-
centration levels of up to 1700 suns.
The epitaxial structure has been processed to solar cells
with various cell sizes and grid designs, ranging from 0.044
to 4 cm
2
and adapted to different concentration ratios and
illumination conditions. All cells feature a two-layer
MgF
2
/ Ta
2
O
5
anti-reection coating ARC. The absolute
EQE determined on these solar cells
14
reveals that the struc-
ture is well current-matched under the AM1.5d ASTM
G17303 spectrum Fig. 3. Within the measurement uncer-
tainties, the cell structure reaches in each subcell the same
current density of 17 mA/ cm
2
. This is an important advan-
tage compared to state-of-the-art lattice-matched devices.
The current-voltage I-V characteristic of the cells was mea-
sured under a multisource solar simulator in the ISE
Callab.
14
The measurements under high illumination
intensity were then taken under a ashlight simulator. Under
one-sun conditions 1 kW/ m
2
, AM1.5d ASTM G17303
the cell structure reaches a current density of J
SC
=16.4 mA/ cm
2
, an open circuit voltage of V
OC
=2282 mV,
a ll factor of FF=84.3%, and an efciency of 31.6%. Under
concentration, V
OC
and FF increase logarithmically. Figure 4
illustrates this strong increase in efciency and the subse-
quent broad maximum between 100 and 900 suns with its
peak at 41.1% for 454 suns. The high intensity I-V charac-
teristic is also plotted in Fig. 4. This efciency beyond any
FIG. 2. REM image left of the epitaxial structure with Ge substrate,
Ga
1y
In
y
As buffer, Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As middle cell, Ga
0.35
In
0.65
P top cell and
anti-reection coating ARC. The tunnel diodes are marked with arrows.
220 bright eld TEM cross section right with zoom into the step-graded
Ga
1y
In
y
As buffer structure. The Ga
0.80
In
0.20
As overshooting layer enhances
relaxation to about 90% conrmed by x-ray diffraction. Dislocation densi-
ties in the active solar cell layers are below 10
6
cm
2
.
FIG. 3. Color online Absolute EQE of a 2 cm
2
metamorphic
Ga
0.35
In
0.65
P/ Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As/ Ge triple-junction solar cell. All cells generate
the same current densities under AM1.5d ASTM G17303 conditions within
measurement uncertainties.
223504-2 Guter et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 223504 2009
Downloaded 11 Oct 2012 to 152.14.136.96. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://apl.aip.org/about/rights_and_permissions
other photovoltaic device reported
15
proves that low disloca-
tion densities in the active solar cell materials have been
achieved despite of the large lattice-mismatch to the germa-
nium substrate.
Moreover, this device still achieves efciencies of more
than 40% at very high concentrations. Due to advanced tun-
nel diodes with high tunnel current densities at low voltages
the device yet reaches 40.4% efciency at 879 suns. Another
device with the same epitaxial structure but higher front con-
tact metallization reaches a maximum efciency of 37.6% at
even higher concentration levels of 1700 suns.
In summary, a metamorphic triple-junction solar cell
with a conversion efciency of 41.1% under 454 suns
AM1.5d ASTM, 454 kW/ m
2
has been developed. This so-
lar cell combines a Ga
0.35
In
0.65
P top cell and a Ga
0.83
In
0.17
As
middle cell with a Ge bottom cell. The lattice-mismatch of
about 1.1% between the epitaxial cells and the substrate
leads to the formation of a dislocation network localized
within an electrically inactive buffer structure. The high
efciency of the solar cell indicates an excellent material
quality achieved upon these metamorphic buffer layers.
Threading dislocation densities below 10
6
cm
2
have been
achieved. The solar cell can be easily processed with todays
industrial technologies for multijunction solar cells.
The authors would like to thank M. Scheer and R. Koch
for their contributions as well as the whole group III-V-
epitaxy and solar cells at Fraunhofer ISE. This work was
partially supported by the European Commission through the
project FULLSPECTRUM Grant No. SES6-CT-2003-
502620 and by the Federal Ministry for the Environment,
Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety BMU under Con-
tract No. 03285554F. W. Guter, J. Schne, S. P. Philipps, and
E. Welser are supported by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Um-
welt DBU. The authors are responsible for the content of
this paper.
1
R. R. King, D. C. Law, K. M. Edmondson, C. M. Fetzer, G. S. Kinsey, H.
Yoon, R. A. Sherif, and N. H. Karam, Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 183516
2007.
2
W. Shockley and H. J. Queisser, J. Appl. Phys. 32, 510 1961.
3
J. M. Olson, S. R. Kurtz, A. E. Kibbler, and P. Faine, Appl. Phys. Lett. 56,
623 1990.
4
D. J. Friedman, J. F. Geisz, S. R. Kurtz, and J. M. Olson, J. Cryst. Growth
195, 409 1998.
5
K. W. J. Barnham, I. Ballard, J. P. Connolly, N. J. Ekins-Daukes, B. G.
Kluftinger, J. Nelson, and C. Rohr, Physica E Amsterdam 14, 27 2002.
6
G. Ltay and A. W. Bett, Proceedings of the 17th European Photovoltaic
Solar Energy Conference, Munich, Germany, 2226 October 2001 unpub-
lished, p. 178.
7
M. Yamaguchi, T. Takamoto, and K. Araki, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells
90, 3068 2006.
8
F. Dimroth, Phys. Status Solidi C 3, 373 2006.
9
C. M. Fetzer, R. R. King, P. C. Colter, K. M. Edmondson, D. C. Law, A.
P. Stavrides, H. Yoon, J. H. Ermer, M. J. Romero, and N. H. Karam, J.
Cryst. Growth 261, 341 2004.
10
W. Guter, F. Dimroth, J. Schne, S. P. Philipps, and A. W. Bett, Proceed-
ings of the 22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and
Exhibition, Milan, Italy, 37 September 2007 unpublished, p. 122.
11
F. Dimroth, R. Beckert, M. Meusel, U. Schubert, and A. W. Bett, Prog.
Photovoltaics 9, 165 2001.
12
A. W. Bett, C. Baur, F. Dimroth, and J. Schne, Materials Research So-
ciety Symposium Proceedings Vol. 836 Materials Research Society, War-
rendale, PA, 2005, Paper #L6.4.
13
J. F. Geisz, D. J. Friedman, J. S. Ward, A. Duda, W. J. Olavarria, T. E.
Moriarty, J. T. Kiehl, M. J. Romero, A. G. Norman, and K. M. Jones,
Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 123505 2008.
14
M. Meusel, R. Adelhelm, F. Dimroth, A. W. Bett, and W. Warta, Prog.
Photovoltaics 10, 243 2002.
15
M. A. Green, K. Emery, Y. Hishikawa, and W. Warta, Prog. Photovoltaics
17, 85 2009.
FIG. 4. Color online I-V parameters of a concentrator solar cell measured
under a ashlight simulator. A broad maximum in efciency between 100
and 900 suns is observed. The inset shows the corresponding I-V curve at
454 suns. At high concentration levels the ll factor decreases due to elec-
trical series resistance losses.
223504-3 Guter et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 223504 2009
Downloaded 11 Oct 2012 to 152.14.136.96. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://apl.aip.org/about/rights_and_permissions