Modeling of defect tolerance of IMM multijunction photovoltaics for space application

Akhil Mehrotra; Alex Freundlich

doi:10.1117/12.2004600

25 March 2013 Modeling of defect tolerance of IMM multijunction photovoltaics for space application

Akhil Mehrotra, Alex Freundlich

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8620, Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices II; 86200V (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2004600
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2013, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Reduction of defects by use of thick sophisticated graded metamorphic buffers in inverted metamorphic solar cells has been a requirement to obtain high efficiency devices. With increase in number of metamorphic junctions to obtain higher efficiencies, these graded buffers constitute a significant part of growth time and cost for manufacturer of the solar cells. It's been shown that ultrathin 3 and 4 junction IMM devices perform better in presence of dislocations or/and radiation harsh environment compared to conventional thick IMM devices. Thickness optimization of the device would result in better defect and radiation tolerant behavior of 0.7ev and 1.0ev InGaAs sub-cells which would in turn require thinner buffers with higher efficiencies, hence reducing the total device thickness. It is also shown that for 3 and 4 junc. IMM, with an equivalent 10¹⁵ cm^-2 1 MeV electron fluence radiation, very high EOL efficiencies can be afforded with substantially higher dislocation densities (<2×10⁷ cm^-2) than those commonly perceived as acceptable for IMM devices with remaining power factor as high as 0.85. The irregular radiation degradation behavior in 4-junc IMM is also explained by back photon reflection from gold contacts and reduced by using thickness optimization of 0.7ev and 1.0ev InGaAs sub-cells.

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Akhil Mehrotra and Alex Freundlich "Modeling of defect tolerance of IMM multijunction photovoltaics for space application", Proc. SPIE 8620, Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices II, 86200V (25 March 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2004600

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