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Wide-bandgap epitaxial heterojunction windows for silicon solar cellsIt is shown that the efficiency of a solar cell can be improved if minority carriers are confined by use of a wide-bandgap heterojunction window. For silicon (lattice constant a = 5.43 A), nearly lattice-matched wide-bandgap materials are ZnS (a = 5.41 A) and GaP (a = 5.45 A). Isotype n-n heterojuntions of both ZnS/Si and GaP/Si were grown on silicon n-p homojunction solar cells. Successful deposition processes used were metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MO-CVD) for GaP and ZnS, and vacuum evaporation of ZnS. Planar (100) and (111) and texture-etched - (111)-faceted - surfaces were used. A decrease in minority-carrier surface recombination compared to a bare surface was seen from increased short-wavelength spectral response, increased open-circuit voltage, and reduced dark saturation current, with no degradation of the minority carrier diffusion length.
Document ID
19900041304
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Landis, Geoffrey A.
(NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Loferski, Joseph J.
(NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Beaulieu, Roland
(Brown University Providence, United States)
Sekula-Moise, Patricia A.
(NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Vernon, Stanley M.
(Spire Corp. Bedford, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
February 1, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
Volume: 37
ISSN: 0018-9383
Subject Category
Energy Production And Conversion
Accession Number
90A28359
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: DE-AC02-84ER-80186
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS3-24641
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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