Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 19;25(9):104950.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104950. eCollection 2022 Sep 16.

A performance comparison between GaInP-on-Si and GaAs-on-Si 3-terminal tandem solar cells

Kaitlyn T VanSant  1   2 , Emily L Warren  2 , John F Geisz  2 , Talysa R Klein  2 , Steve Johnston  2 , William E McMahon  2 , Henning Schulte-Huxel  3 , Michael Rienäcker  3 , Robby Peibst  3 , Adele C Tamboli  1   2
Affiliations

A performance comparison between GaInP-on-Si and GaAs-on-Si 3-terminal tandem solar cells

Kaitlyn T VanSant et al. iScience. .

Abstract

The pursuit of ever-higher solar cell efficiencies has focused heavily on multijunction technologies. In tandem cells, subcells are typically either contacted via two terminals (2T) or four terminals (4T). Simulations show that the less-common three-terminal (3T) design may be comparable to 4T tandem cells in its compatibility with a range of materials, operating conditions, and methods for subcell integration, yet the 3T design circumvents shading losses of the 4T intermediate conductive layers. This study analyzes the performance of two superstrate 3T III-V-on-Si (III-V//Si) tandem cells: One has slightly greater current contribution from the Si bottom cell (GaInP//Si) and the other has substantially greater current contribution from the GaAs top cell (GaAs//Si). Our results show that both tandem cells exhibit the same efficiency (21.3%), thereby demonstrating that the third terminal allows for flexibility in the selection of the top cell material, similar to the 4T design.

Keywords: Electronic materials; Energy materials; Materials science.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Emily Warren and Adele Tamboli hold a patent related to III-V/Si tandem cells: US10256093B2. Kaitlyn VanSant is currently a NASA Postdoc Program Fellow, affiliated with NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
3TT cell schematics Caption: 3TT superstrate structure for (A) GaInP/s/nuIBC and (B) GaAs/s/nuIBC.
Figure 2
Figure 2
3TT cell cross-section Caption: A III-V/s/nuIBC tandem cell connected in the Common Z (CZ) configuration, used to measure the J-V data in Figure 3 and the P-V-V data in Figure 4. All measurements were taken by connecting each circuit (i.e. TZ and RZ) to a Keithley 238 sourcemeter units.
Figure 3
Figure 3
EQE and JV plots Caption: (A) EQE and (B) J-V characteristics of GaInP/s/nuIBC cell (C) EQE and (D) J-V characteristics of GaAs/s/nuIBC cell. Conditions in brackets indicate circuit constraint(s) during the measurement. Data were either measured in, or translated into, the fourth quadrant.
Figure 4
Figure 4
P-V-V plots of both tandem cells Caption: 3T P-V-V plots of (A) GaInP/s/nuIBC (B) GaAs/s/nuIBC. The red point labeled “2T Pmax” is the maximum power point of the series-connected 2T measurements. “P-V-V Pmax” is the maximum of the 3T P-V-V plot. “Pmax (TZ) + Pmax (RZ)” is the Pmax obtained from the constrained J-V data provided in Figure 3 and Table 1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adhyaksa G.W.P., Johlin E., Garnett E.C. Nanoscale back contact perovskite solar cell design for improved tandem efficiency. Nano Lett. 2017;17:5206–5212. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alshkeili S., Emziane M. Design of dual-junction three-terminal CdTe/InGaAs solar cells. J. Electron. Mater. 2014;43:4344–4348.
    1. Djebbour Z., El-Huni W., Migan Dubois A., Kleider J. Bandgap engineered smart three-terminal solar cell: new perspectives towards very high efficiencies in the silicon world. Prog. Photovolt. Res. Appl. 2019;27:306–315.
    1. Essig S., Allebé C., Remo T., Geisz J.F., Steiner M.A., Horowitz K., Barraud L., Ward J.S., Schnabel M., Descoeudres A., et al. Raising the one-sun conversion efficiency of III–V/Si solar cells to 32.8% for two junctions and 35.9% for three junctions. Nat. Energy. 2017;2:17144–17149.
    1. Geisz J.F., Steiner M.A., García I., Kurtz S.R., Friedman D.J. Enhanced external radiative efficiency for 20.8% efficient single-junction GaInP solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2013;103:041118.

LinkOut - more resources