Open AccessFinal Report for PV Incubator Subcontract No. NAT-7-77015-05: October 19, 2007 - July 30, 2009
Author(s) -
N. Pan
Publication year - 2012
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/1039826
Subject(s) - solar cell , cost of electricity by source , photovoltaic system , photovoltaics , materials science , concentrator , substrate (aquarium) , energy conversion efficiency , triple junction , solar cell efficiency , optoelectronics , electrical engineering , electricity generation , engineering , physics , power (physics) , oceanography , quantum mechanics , geology
The Solar America Initiative (SAI) is intended to provide numerous technological routes towards a lower levelized cost of solar-generated electricity (LCOE). MicroLink's planned contribution towards the SAI is to provide a method of lowering the cost of GaAs-based solar cells, which are a major contributor to the cost of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules. MicroLink's unique approach is to use an epitaxial liftoff (ELO) process to completely remove the active solar cell from the substrate while preserving the performance and yield of the cell. The substrate accounts for approximately half the cost of conventional, multijunction GaAs-based solar cells. By using ELO, the substrate can be reused several times for additional solar cell growths, thereby reducing the cost of multijunction solar cells by up to 50%. The achievement of high efficiency has significantly increased the acceptance of MicroLink Devices as a future supplier of high-efficiency dual-junction and IMM (inverted metamorphic) triple-junction ELO solar cells. MicroLink entered the SAI program with a 10% efficiency GaAs solar cell (1-sun AM 1.5) and finished the program with an NREL-verified IMM triple-junction ELO solar cell (1-sun AM 1.5)