Study And Review On The Design And Performance Aspects Of Iii-v Semiconductor Solar Cells (case Study Comparison On Gaas Ge And Si Substrate)

This thesis focuses on studying and reviewing the design and performance aspects of III-V Solar cells;rnand make a comparison among the solar cells on GaAs, Ge, and Si substrate mainly based on efficiencyrnand cost. The performances of 1-junction GaAs and 2-junction InGaP/GaAs solar cells on GaAs substraternis reviewed and the latest efficiencies are found to be 28.8% and 34.1% respectively. The performance ofrn3-Junction solar cell on Ge substrate is also reviewed and the latest efficiency is 44.4%. Finally, thernperformance of 1-Junction, 2-Junction and 3-Junction III-V solar cells on Si substrate is reviewed and thernrecent efficiencies are 26%, 29.2% and 33.5% respectively. Regarding the cost, one of the mostrnsignificant cost contributors for III-V solar cells is the cost of the starting substrate. A recent study hasrnrevealed that transitioning of a 4” Ge or GaAs substrate to 8” Si substrate would correlate to about 60%rnreduction in cost for multijunction solar cells.rnIn general, the review shows that the efficiencies of III-V solar cells on Si substrate are continuallyrnincreasing and recently, the efficiencies of 1-Junction and 2-Junction III-V solar cells on Si substraternbecome comparable to the one on GaAs substrate. The study indicates that the successful integration ofrnIII-V solar cells on Si substrate offers a great promise for lowering the cost of solar energy by combiningrnthe high efficiency merits of the III-V materials with the low-cost and abundance of the Si substrate.

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