Broad spectrum solar cell

• US 7,217,882 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2003
• Issued: 05/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Incorporated (Cornell University), Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Original Assignee: Cornell Research Foundation Incorporated (Cornell University), Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Inventors: Walukiewicz, Wladyslaw, Schaff, William J., Yu, Kin Man, Wu, Junqiao
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Nam
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fick; Anthony
• Application Number:
  US10/445,711
• Publication Number:
  US 20040118451A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,449 Days
• Field of Search: 136/252, 136/262
• US Class Current: 136/252
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/0687 Multiple junction or tandem solar cells
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/0735 comprising only AIIIBV compound semiconductors, e.g. GaAs/AlGaAs or InP/GaInAs solar cells
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/544 Solar cells from Group III-V materials

Abstract

An alloy having a large band gap range is used in a multijunction solar cell to enhance utilization of the solar energy spectrum. In one embodiment, the alloy is In_1−xGa_xN having an energy bandgap range of approximately 0.7 eV to 3.4 eV, providing a good match to the solar energy spectrum. Multiple junctions having different bandgaps are stacked to form a solar cell. Each junction may have different bandgaps (realized by varying the alloy composition), and therefore be responsive to different parts of the spectrum. The junctions are stacked in such a manner that some bands of light pass through upper junctions to lower junctions that are responsive to such bands.

Claims

1. A solar cell comprising:

a first junction of In<sub>1−

x</sub>Ga_xN having a first bandgap; and

a second junction of In<sub>1−

x</sub>Ga_xN having different composition, wherein x is between approximately 0 and 1, electrically coupled to the first junction, the second junction having a bandgap lower than the first bandgap, where the relative bandgaps are adjusted to a desired range of the solar spectrum.

2. The solar cell of claim 1 wherein the In₁₋

xGa_xN alloy has an energy bandgap range of approximately 0.7 eV to 3.4 eV.

3. The solar cell of claim 1 wherein the first junction is closer to a source of solar energy and has a higher bandgap than the second junction.

4. The solar cell of claim 3 wherein a surface of the first junction closer to a source of solar energy is coated with an antireflective layer.

5. The solar cell of claim 1 wherein the first junction comprises n-type and p-type doped GaInN.

6. The solar cell of claim 1 wherein the second junction comprises n-type and p-type doped InN.

7. The solar cell of claim 1 wherein the bandgap of the junctions is adjusted between approximately 0.7 eV to 3.4 eV by varying x.

8. The solar cell of claim 1 and further comprising electrical contacts formed on opposite sides of the first and second junctions.

9. A solar cell comprising:

a first junction having a n-type and a p-type doped GaInN layer having a first bandgap within a solar radiation range;

a second junction having a n-type and a p-type doped InN layer having a bandgap lower than the first bandgap within the solar radiation range; and

a tunnel junction sandwiched between the first and second junctions.

10. The solar cell of claim 9 wherein the first junction has an energy bandgap of approximately 1.4 eV and the second junction has an energy bandgap of approximately 0.7.

11. The solar cell of claim 10 wherein the first junction comprises In₁₋

xGa_xN, where x is approximately 0.39.

12. The solar cell of claim 9 wherein the tunnel junction comprises an n-type and a p-type layer.

13. The solar cell of claim 12 wherein the tunnel junction layers are formed of InN.

14. The solar cell of claim 13 wherein the n-type layers are heavily doped.

15. The solar cell of claim 9 wherein doping levels for the n-type and p-type layers of the junctions range from approximately 10¹⁷ cm⁻

3 to 10¹⁸ cm<sup>−

3</sup>.

16. A solar cell comprising:

a first junction having a n and a p doped GaInN layer having a first bandgap;

a second junction having a n and a p doped InN layer having a second bandgap lower than the first bandgap;

a front contact coupled to the first junction;

a back contact coupled to the second junction;

a set of interior contacts, wherein the interior contacts are coupled to respective first and second junctions, and aligned to provide electrical contact there between when the first and second junctions are in a stacked relationship.

17. The solar cell of claim 16 wherein the first junction has an energy bandgap of approximately 1.4 eV and the second junction has an energy bandgap of approximately 0.7 eV.

18. The solar cell of claim 16 wherein the first junction comprises In₁₋

xGa_xN, where x is approximately 0.39.

19. A multijunction solar cell comprising:

multiple electrically coupled junctions in stacked relationship, the junctions having a n-type and a p-type doped GaInN layer;

a bottom junction positioned beneath, and electrically coupled to the stack of multiple junctions, the bottom junction having a n-type and a p-type doped InN layer, wherein the bottom junction has an energy bandgap within a solar radiation range, and the energy bandgap of each successive junction of the multiple stacked junctions from the bottom layer increases such that a top layer junction has the highest energy bandgap within the solar radiation range.

20. The solar cell of claim 19 wherein the junctions are formed of In₁₋

xGa_xN, wherein x is between approximately 0 to 1, wherein x is varied to adjust the energy bandgap within the solar radiation range.

21. The solar cell of claim 20 wherein the energy bandgap of the bottom and multiple layers has a range of approximately 0.7 eV to 3.4 eV.

22. The solar cell of claim 20 wherein x is approximately zero for the bottom junction.

23. The solar cell of claim 20 comprising three junctions having x of approximately 0.55, 0.27 and 0.0, respectively.

24. The solar cell of claim 19 wherein the junctions are electrically coupled by a tunnel junction formed between each adjacent junction.

25. The solar cell of claim 19 wherein the junctions are electrically coupled by ohmic contacts formed on adjacent sides of successive junctions.

26. A method of forming a multijunction solar cell using a single alloy system, the method comprising:

forming a first junction on top of a buffer layer supported by a substrate, wherein the first junction comprises In<sub>1−

x</sub>Ga_xN;

forming a tunnel junction on top of the first junction;

forming a second junction on top of the tunnel junction, wherein the second junction comprises In<sub>1−

x</sub>Ga_xN, wherein x for the second junction is larger than x for the first junction and maintains a junction energy bandgap within a solar radiation range, wherein x is between approximately 0 and 1;

removing the buffer layer and the substrate layer; and

forming contacts on the first junction and the second junction to form the solar cell.

27. The method of claim 26 and further comprising forming an antireflection coating on the second junction.

28. The method of claim 26 and further comprising forming further layers of tunnel junctions and junctions comprising In₁₋

xGa_xN between the first and second junctions, where x increases in successive junctions above the first junction.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein the first and second junctions are grown using molecular beam epitaxy.

30. A method of forming a multijunction solar cell, the method comprising:

forming multiple junctions on top of buffer layers supported by a substrate, wherein the multiple junctions comprises In<sub>1−

x</sub>Ga_xN wherein x is between approximately 0 and 1;

removing the buffer layers and the substrate layers from each of the junctions;

mechanically stacking the junctions such that a top of the stack is closest to a solar energy source, and wherein x decreases in each successive layer from the top and maintains a junction energy bandgap within a solar radiation range; and

forming contacts on junctions to electrically connect each successive junction to adjacent junctions.

31. The method of claim 30 and further comprising forming an antireflection coating on each junction.

32. A solar cell comprising:

a solar cell having multiple junctions formed of a single ternary alloy wherein the compositional percentage of the alloy is varied to produce multiple subcells of different bandgaps.

33. The solar cell of claim 32 wherein the multiple subcells are formed to be responsive to a full solar spectrum.