COMBINED EFFECTS OF SHUNT AND LUMINESCENCE COUPLING ON EXTERNAL

QUANTUM EFFICIENCY MEASUREMENTS OF MULTI-JUNCTION SOLAR CELLS

Jing-Jing Li, Swee H. Lim, Charles R. Allen, Ding Ding and Yong-Hang Zhang
Center for Photonics Innovation and School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering,
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

ABSTRACT
The combined effects of shunt and luminescence coupling
on the measurement artifacts of external quantum efficiency (EQE) of multi-junction solar cells are studied. A
good agreement is found between the measured and
modeled artifacts due to the combined effects for a Ge
bottom cell. The optimal bias light intensity to minimize the
EQE measurement artifact of the Ge bottom cell is obtained.
INTRODUCTION
The spectral external quantum efficiency (EQE) is of significant importance for the design and performance evaluation of multi-junction solar cells [1,2]. Due to the series
connection and close proximity, the subcells are coupled
both electrically and optically. Therefore, the EQE responses of the individual subcells are determined not only
by their own properties, but also by the interactions between them. It has been demonstrated that the low shunt
resistance of a subcell can reduce the spectral response
in its wavelength range, while giving rise to an erroneous
response signal outside its wavelength range [3,4]. Recently, it has been shown that the luminescence coupling
from a subcell to a lower subcell with smaller bandgap can
cause similar measurement artifact [5,6]. The presence of
both shunt and luminescence coupling makes the behavior of the artifact even more complicated.

Figure 1 EQE spectra of the Ge bottom cell of a triple

junction solar cell at the bias voltage of -0.8 V and
with different photocurrent
of InGaAs middle cell
generated by the bias light.
EQE measurements are performed on a commercial InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple junction solar cell. The measurement setup (Newport QE/IPCE) consists of a broadband
light source chopped at 30 Hz, a monochromator and a
lock-in amplifer. To measure the EQE of a subcell, light
biases have to be used to make the subcell current limiting.

In addition, the multi-junction needs to be voltage biased if

the subcell under test has a low shunt resistance. Fig. 1
shows the EQE spectra of the Ge bottom cell measured at
the bias voltage of -0.8 V when the photocurrent
of the
InGaAs middle cell is increased because of the increased
bias light intensity. It shows the measurement artifact of
higher than expected EQE in the response range of InGaAs middle cell from 650 nm to 900 nm, and lower than
expected EQE in the response range of Ge bottom cell
above 900 nm. Furthermore, the measurement artifact is
minimized at the photocurrent
of 2.4 mA, and the artifact becomes more severe as
decreases or increases.
The increased severity of the artifact effects for smaller
and larger
can be explained by the low shunt resistance
of the Ge bottom cell and the luminescence coupling between the InGaAs middle cell and Ge bottom cell, respectively. As a result, the optimal bias light intensity on the
InGaAs middle cell, at which the measurement artifact of
the Ge bottom cell is minimized, is determined by the
combined effects of shunt and luminescence coupling.
In this paper, the combined effects of shunt and luminescence coupling on the EQE measurements are studied for
the subcells of triple junction solar cells.
THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

Superscripts T, M, B: top, middle and bottom subcells.

Subscript B: bias light; L: load;
SH: shunt; A: applied; LK:
leakage light due to unabsorbed bias light on the upper
subcell; LC: luminescence
coupling due to radiative recombination in the upper subcell.

Figure 2 DC equivalent circuits of a triple junction solar cell at the light and voltage bias conditions of EQE

measurements for the top subcell (a), middle subcell

(b) and bottom subcell (c).
Fig. 2 (a), (b) and (c) show the circuit representations of
the triple junction solar cell under the bias conditions for
EQE measurements of the top, middle and bottom subcell
respectively. The current sources ,
and
are the
photocurrents generated by the intentional light biases on
the three subcells. Because the bias light may not be absorbed completely, additional photocurrent can be generated in a lower subcell by the unabsorbed bias light on the
upper subcell. The leakage current is modeled by the current controlled current source
from the top to
middle subcell and
from the middle to bottom subcell, with constant ratios
and
. Moverover,
the radiative recombination in an upper subcell with a
larger bandgap generates photons that can be reabsorbed
in the lower subcell. This luminescence coupling is modeled by the current controlled current source
from the top to middle subcell and
from the middle to bottom subcell. The voltage source VA is used to reduce the effects of the shunt
resistances
,
and
.

light in the wavelength range of the top, middle and bottom

subcell, respectively. The leakage currents are
and
. The luminescence coupling
currents are
and
, where
and
are the luminescence coupling strengths.
The origin of EQE measurement artifact is revealed from
the relation between the measured output current iout and
the photocurrent iph generated by the monochromatic light.
Eqs. (1)(3) shows iout/iph in the wavelength range of top,
middle and bottom subcell, respectively, derived using the
Thevenins equivalents of the circuits in Fig. 3 (a), (b) and
(c).

r t / / rsht t,m lkt,m r m / / rshm t,m m,b r b / / rshb

i out
t
iph r / / rsht 1 t,m r m / / rshm 1 1 t,m m,b r b / / rshb RL (1)

r m / / rshm m,b lkm,b r b / / rshb

i out
t
t
iph r / / rsh 1 t,m r m / / rshm 1 1 t,m m,b r b / / rshb RL (2)

r b // rshb
i out
t t
t,m
m
m
iph r // rsh 1 r // rsh 1 1 t,m m,b r b // rshb RL
where

Small letters of the big letters

in DC cases stand for the small
signal counterparts of the DC
elements
Subscript ph: AC photocurrent;
d: diode

Figure 3 Small signal equivalent circuits of a triple

junction solar cell when the wavelength of monochromatic light is in the wavelength range of the top
subcell (a), middle subcell (b) and bottom subcell (c).
Under the proper light and voltage biases, the EQE spectrum of the subcell under test is measured by scanning the
wavelength of the AC monochromatic light iph. The measured photocurrent iout under the AC monochromatic light is
converted into a voltage signal by a load resistor RL and
measured using a lock-in amplifier. Fig. 3 (a), (b) and (c)
show the small signal equivalent circuits of a triple junction
solar cell, when iph is generated by the monochromatic

t,m

lct,m

rsht
rm
and m,b lcm,b m sh m
r t rsht
r rsh

(3)

The luminescence coupling strengths

and
in Eqs.
(1)(3) are determined by probing the electroluminescence (EL) of the subcells. The radiative recombination in
an upper subcell with a larger bandgap generates photons
that either escape from the solar cell surface generating
EL, or emit into the lower subcell and are reabsorbed by it.
The relationship between the number of photons emitted
into the free space and the number being reabsorbed is
characteristic of the solar cell at a give set of voltage and
light bias conditions. Two methods have been developed
to determine the luminescence coupling strengths [6,7].
The small signal resistances in Eqs. (1)(3) are obtained
by linearizing the diode I-V of the subcells at their operating points. The forward I-V of the subcells are obtained
using the Isc-Voc method [4]. The reverse IV of the subcells
can be measured by light biasing the other subcells. Note
that the effect of luminescence coupling on the subcell IV
has to be considered.
RESULTS
Fig. 4 shows the measured (dots) and calculated (lines)
EQE artifact iout/iph of the Ge bottom cell in Fig. 1 at the
bias voltage of -0.8 V and as a function of the bias light
photocurrent
of InGaAs middle cell. It can be seen that
iout/iph increases and then decreases with
when the
monochromatic light is set at 980 nm, and the trend is
opposite when the monochromatic light is set at 780 nm.
When
decreases, the Ge bottom cell becomes more
reverse biased and its shunt resistance decreases, which
makes the artifact become worse. When
increases, the
voltage and radiative recombinations of the InGaAs middle

cell increase, which also makes the artifact become worse.

The artifact effects are minimized at the optimal bias light
intensity when iout/iph reaches the maximum at 980 nm and
the minimum at 780 nm. The EQE measurement artifact is
dominated by the shunt effect at smaller bias light intensity,
while it is dominated by the luminescence coupling at
larger bias light intensity. The EQE measurement artifact
of Ge bottom cell is reproduced using Eq. (2) and (3) and
the measurement methods developed in the previous section. A good agreement is found between the measurement and calculation results.

only shunts quickly approaches 1 at 980 nm and 0 at 780

nm as
increases, because the small signal resistance
of the middle subcell decreases quickly with
. At
large
, iout/iph with both effects change at the same
slopes with those with only luminescence coupling (open
dots), showing that the luminescence coupling dominates.
Furthermore, iout/iph with only luminescence coupling is
lower than that with both effects at 980 nm and higher at
780 nm. This is because the small signal resistance of the
bottom subcell is larger without the shunts. The bottom
subcell becomes more reverse biased, while the middle
subcell becomes more forward biased. It causes the luminescence coupling to become stronger. The tradeoff of the
shunt and luminescence coupling effects determines the
optimal bias light intensity on the middle subcell that minimizes the EQE measurement artifact.
SUMMARY

Figure 4 Measured and calculated EQE artifact iout/iph

of the Ge bottom cell in Fig. 1.

In summary, the combined effects of shunt and luminescence coupling on the EQE measurement artifacts are
studied theoretically and experimentally. In particular, to
minimize the measurement artifact of a Ge bottom cell,
both measurement and modeling results show that the
optimal bias light intensity on the InGaAs middle cell is
determined by the tradeoff of shunt and luminescence
coupling.
Acknowledgements
This work is partially supported by the Science Foundation
Arizona, contract numbers SRG 0190-07 and SRG 033908, the Air Force Research Laboratory/Space Vehicles
Directorate, contract number FA9453-08-2-0228, and an
NSF grant, contract number 1002114.
REFERENCES

Figure 5 Calculated iout/iph of Ge bottom cell at 980 nm

and 780 nm with shunt and luminescence coupling
(squares), with only shunts (open triangles) and only
luminescence coupling (open dots).
Fig. 5 (squares) shows the calculated iout/iph of the Ge bottom cell. In general, not every solar cell has all the characteristics of shunts and luminescence coupling. Solar cells
with good material qualities have large shunt resistances
and strong luminescence coupling. Solar cells with poor
material qualities have small shunt resistances, and may
not have luminescence coupling. For special structures
such as the bi-facial triple junction solar cells, the upper
two subcells are grown on the opposite side of the wafer
from the bottom subcell, so there is no luminescence
coupling from the middle to the bottom subcells. Eqs. (1)
(3) can be simplified for these special cases, and some of
calculated results are shown in Fig. 5. At small , it can
be seen that iout/iph with both shunts and luminescence
coupling overlap with those with only shunts (open triangles), showing that the shunt effect dominates. iout/iph with

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