https://doi.org/10.1051/epjpv/2022027
Regular Article
Epitaxy and characterization of InP/InGaAs tandem solar cells grown by MOVPE on InP and Si substrates
1
III-V Lab, 1 Avenue Augustin Fresnel, 97167 Palaiseau, France
2
Université Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupélec, CNRS, Laboratoire de Génie Electrique et Electronique de Paris, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
3
IPVF, Ile de France Photovoltaic Institute, 30 route départementale 128, 91120 Palaiseau, France
4
Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire de Génie Electrique et Electronique de Paris, 75252 Paris, France
5
C2N/CNRS-Universite Paris-Saclay, Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis, France
6
Instituto de Energía Solar, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S.I. Telecomunicación, Av. de la Complutense 30, 28040 Madrid, Spain
7
IES, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, 34000 Montpellier, France
* e-mail: mattia.dalisca@ipvf.fr
Received:
24
June
2022
Received in final form:
28
October
2022
Accepted:
18
November
2022
Published online: 9 January 2023
The integration of III-V multi-junction solar cells on Si substrates is currently one of the most promising possibilities to combine high photovoltaic performance with a reduction of the manufacturing costs. In this work, we propose a prospective study for the realization of an InP/InGaAs tandem solar cell lattice-matched to InP on a commercially available Si template by direct MOVPE growth. The InP top cell and the InGaAs bottom cell were firstly separately grown and optimized using InP substrates, which exhibited conversion efficiencies of 13.5% and 11.4%, respectively. The two devices were then combined in a tandem device by introducing an intermediate InP/AlInAs lattice-matched tunnel junction, showing an efficiency of 18.4%. As an intermediate step towards the realization of the tandem device on Si, the InP and InGaAs single junction solar cells were grown on top of a commercial InP/GaP/Si template. This transitional stage enabled to isolate and evaluate the effects of the growth of III-V on Si on the photovoltaic performance through the comparison with the aforementioned devices on InP. Each cell was electrically characterized by external quantum efficiency and dark and illuminated current-voltage under solar simulator. The material quality was also analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction, Atomic-Force Microscopy, Transmission Electron and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The III-V on Si devices showed efficiencies of 3.6% and 2.0% for the InP and InGaAs solar cells, respectively.
Key words: III-V/Si / NAsP commercial template / InP/InGaAs / MOVPE
© S. Soresi et al., Published by EDP Sciences, 2023
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
