GB2501432B - Photovoltaic cell - Google Patents

Photovoltaic cell

Info

Publication number
GB2501432B
GB2501432B GB1313793.0A GB201313793A GB2501432B GB 2501432 B GB2501432 B GB 2501432B GB 201313793 A GB201313793 A GB 201313793A GB 2501432 B GB2501432 B GB 2501432B
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
gaas
sige
layers
junction
photovoltaic
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Active
Application number
GB1313793.0A
Other versions
GB2501432A (en
GB201313793D0 (en
Inventor
Robert Cameron Harper
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
IQE Silicon Compounds Ltd
Original Assignee
IQE Silicon Compounds Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by IQE Silicon Compounds Ltd filed Critical IQE Silicon Compounds Ltd
Priority to GB1313793.0A priority Critical patent/GB2501432B/en
Publication of GB201313793D0 publication Critical patent/GB201313793D0/en
Publication of GB2501432A publication Critical patent/GB2501432A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2501432B publication Critical patent/GB2501432B/en
Active legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L31/04—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices
    • H01L31/06—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier
    • H01L31/068—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the potential barriers being only of the PN homojunction type, e.g. bulk silicon PN homojunction solar cells or thin film polycrystalline silicon PN homojunction solar cells
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L31/1804—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof comprising only elements of Group IV of the Periodic System
    • H01L31/1812—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof comprising only elements of Group IV of the Periodic System including only AIVBIV alloys, e.g. SiGe
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L31/1892—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof methods involving the use of temporary, removable substrates
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
    • Y02E10/547—Monocrystalline silicon PV cells

Abstract

A photovoltaic cell 10, comprising a photovoltaic junction 18, incorporating one or more epitaxially grown layers of SiGe or another germanium material 14, 16, substantially lattice matched to GaAs. A GaAs 12 substrate used for growing the layers may be removed by a method, such as exfoliation, which includes using a boundary between said GaAs and the germanium material as an etch stop. Layers 14, 16 may be p-type or n-type doped SiGe. Photovoltaic junctions comprising GaAs (20, fig. 2), InGaP (22, fig. 2) or SiGe layers (54, 56, fig. 5) forming triple or quadruple solar cells may be formed on a structure (60, fig. 6A) which is inverted and bonded to photovoltaic cell (fig. 6B). GaAs substrate may be reused. An alternative base may be provided e.g. a heatsink (34, fig. 3C) or oxidised silicon wafer (42, fig. 4D) to replace substrate. A second SiGe photovoltaic junction (58, fig. 5) with a larger bandgap (0.85-1.05eV) than junction 18 (less than 0.76eV) and higher silicon content may be grown on top of a SiGe grade layer (52, fig. 5) formed on junction 18.
GB1313793.0A 2009-02-19 2009-02-19 Photovoltaic cell Active GB2501432B (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1313793.0A GB2501432B (en) 2009-02-19 2009-02-19 Photovoltaic cell

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1313793.0A GB2501432B (en) 2009-02-19 2009-02-19 Photovoltaic cell

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB201313793D0 GB201313793D0 (en) 2013-09-18
GB2501432A GB2501432A (en) 2013-10-23
GB2501432B true GB2501432B (en) 2013-12-04

Family

ID=49224007

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB1313793.0A Active GB2501432B (en) 2009-02-19 2009-02-19 Photovoltaic cell

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2501432B (en)

Families Citing this family (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20170141256A1 (en) 2009-10-23 2017-05-18 Alta Devices, Inc. Multi-junction optoelectronic device with group iv semiconductor as a bottom junction
US9502594B2 (en) 2012-01-19 2016-11-22 Alta Devices, Inc. Thin-film semiconductor optoelectronic device with textured front and/or back surface prepared from template layer and etching
US11271128B2 (en) 2009-10-23 2022-03-08 Utica Leaseco, Llc Multi-junction optoelectronic device
US20150380576A1 (en) 2010-10-13 2015-12-31 Alta Devices, Inc. Optoelectronic device with dielectric layer and method of manufacture
US11038080B2 (en) 2012-01-19 2021-06-15 Utica Leaseco, Llc Thin-film semiconductor optoelectronic device with textured front and/or back surface prepared from etching
JP2019506742A (en) * 2016-01-29 2019-03-07 アルタ デバイセズ, インコーポレイテッドAlta Devices, Inc. Multijunction optoelectronic device having group IV semiconductor as bottom junction

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6281426B1 (en) * 1997-10-01 2001-08-28 Midwest Research Institute Multi-junction, monolithic solar cell using low-band-gap materials lattice matched to GaAs or Ge
WO2002033746A1 (en) * 2000-10-19 2002-04-25 International Business Machines Corporation Layer transfer of low defect sige using an etch-back process
US20020168864A1 (en) * 2001-04-04 2002-11-14 Zhiyuan Cheng Method for semiconductor device fabrication
WO2004054003A1 (en) * 2002-12-05 2004-06-24 Blue Photonics, Inc. High efficiency, monolithic multijunction solar cells containing lattice-mismatched materials and methods of forming same
US20060144435A1 (en) * 2002-05-21 2006-07-06 Wanlass Mark W High-efficiency, monolithic, multi-bandgap, tandem photovoltaic energy converters

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6281426B1 (en) * 1997-10-01 2001-08-28 Midwest Research Institute Multi-junction, monolithic solar cell using low-band-gap materials lattice matched to GaAs or Ge
WO2002033746A1 (en) * 2000-10-19 2002-04-25 International Business Machines Corporation Layer transfer of low defect sige using an etch-back process
US20020168864A1 (en) * 2001-04-04 2002-11-14 Zhiyuan Cheng Method for semiconductor device fabrication
US20060144435A1 (en) * 2002-05-21 2006-07-06 Wanlass Mark W High-efficiency, monolithic, multi-bandgap, tandem photovoltaic energy converters
WO2004054003A1 (en) * 2002-12-05 2004-06-24 Blue Photonics, Inc. High efficiency, monolithic multijunction solar cells containing lattice-mismatched materials and methods of forming same

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2501432A (en) 2013-10-23
GB201313793D0 (en) 2013-09-18

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