Modeling of defect-tolerant thin multi-junction solar cells for space application

A. Mehrotra; A. Alemu; A. Freundlich

doi:10.1117/12.909203

21 February 2012 Modeling of defect-tolerant thin multi-junction solar cells for space application

A. Mehrotra, A. Alemu, A. Freundlich

Proceedings Volume 8256, Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices; 82561H (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.909203
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2012, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Using drift-diffusion model and considering experimental III-V material parameters, AM0 efficiencies of lattice-matched multijunction solar cells have been calculated and the effects of dislocations and radiation damage have been analyzed. Ultrathin multi-junction devices perform better in presence of dislocations or/and radiation harsh environment compared to conventional thick multijunction devices. Our results show that device design optimization of Ga_0.51In_0.49P/GaAs multijunction devices leads to an improvement in EOL efficiency from 4.8%, for the conventional thick device design, to 12.7%, for the EOL optimized thin devices. In addition, an optimized defect free lattice matched Ga_0.51In_0.49P/GaAs solar cell under 10¹⁶cm^-2 1Mev equivalent electron fluence is shown to give an EOL efficiency of 12.7%; while a Ga_0.51In_0.49P/GaAs solar cell with 10⁸ cm^-2 dislocation density under 10¹⁶cm^-2 electron fluence gives an EOL efficiency of 12.3%. The results suggest that by optimizing the device design, we can obtain nearly the same EOL efficiencies for high dislocation metamorphic solar cells and defect filtered metamorphic multijunction solar cells. The findings relax the need for thick or graded buffer used for defect filtering in metamorphic devices. It is found that device design optimization allows highly dislocated devices to be nearly as efficient as defect free devices for space applications.

Citation Download Citation

A. Mehrotra, A. Alemu, and A. Freundlich "Modeling of defect-tolerant thin multi-junction solar cells for space application", Proc. SPIE 8256, Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices, 82561H (21 February 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.909203

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