Premium
Cover Picture: Properties of nitride‐based photovoltaic cells under concentrated light illumination (Phys. Status Solidi RRL 4/2012)
Author(s) -
Yamamoto Shota,
Mori Mikiko,
Kuwahara Yosuke,
Fujii Takahiro,
Nakao Tatsuo,
Kondo Shinichiro,
Iwaya Motoaki,
Takeuchi Tetsuya,
Kamiyama Satoshi,
Akasaki Isamu,
Amano Hiroshi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201290006
Subject(s) - suns in alchemy , optoelectronics , materials science , solar cell , superlattice , nitride , quantum dot solar cell , silicon nitride , plasmonic solar cell , photovoltaic system , substrate (aquarium) , polymer solar cell , silicon , nanotechnology , layer (electronics) , electrical engineering , engineering , biology , ecology
One of the disadvantages of compound semiconductor solar cells is their high cost compared with silicon or organic solar cells. This problem can be solved by using a condenser lens system. Thus, if the solar cells can operate at 200 suns, the cost per chip would be reduced considerably. In their Letter on pp. 145–147 , Yamamoto et al. report on the focusing properties of nitride‐based solar cells up to 200 suns and also discuss the dependence of solar cell characteristics on concentration ratio. The structure of the devices prepared in this study consists of 50 pairs of unintentionally doped Ga 0.83 In 0.17 N/Ga 0.93 In 0.07 N superlattice layers as active layers on freestanding GaN substrate. Another 10 pairs of Si‐doped Ga 0.90 In 0.10 N/GaN superlattice layers were inserted beneath the active layers in order to reduce the dislocation density. These nitride‐based solar cells operate effectively even at 200 suns, their conversion efficiency of 3.4% is the highest ever reported value for nitride solar cells.