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Interdigitated back‐contact double‐heterojunction GaInP/GaAs solar cells
Author(s) -
Myllynen Antti,
Sadi Toufik,
Oksanen Jani
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.3339
Subject(s) - suns in alchemy , solar cell , optoelectronics , heterojunction , materials science , diode , semiconductor , theory of solar cells , photovoltaics , polymer solar cell , photovoltaic system , electrical engineering , engineering
ABSTRACT Interdigitated back‐contact (IBC) silicon solar cells are coming of age, but the potential of IBC configurations for compound semiconductor solar cells is yet to be explored. We outline an approach to generalize the diffusion‐driven charge transport (DDCT) method, previously studied for IBC light‐emitting diodes, to develop DDCT solar cells, enabling an IBC double‐heterojunction structure. In particular, we simulate and compare the electrical performance of a GaInP/GaAs DDCT solar cell with an ideal one‐dimensional reference cell to establish how the lateral dimensions of the DDCT structures affect their operation. Also, the suitability of the DDCT solar cells for concentration photovoltaics is explored. The results show that the DDCT solar cells with a finger pitch of approximately 10 μ m can match and even outperform the ideal reference structure under the AM1.5G solar spectrum, due to reduced Shockley‐Read‐Hall recombination. At high solar concentrations, the performance of the smallest pitch DDCT structure is essentially identical with the reference structure up to 100 suns. This suggests that combining the benefits offered by the IBC design with compound semiconductors could allow the development of an entire family of more efficient solar cells.