Analysis of Depletion-Region Collection in GaInNAs Solar Cells

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

    Abstract

    We provide qualitative insight into depletion-region collection in GaInNAs cells to (1) understand the effect of diffusion length L on the QE; and (2) describe the magnitude of L required to get adequate current from the cell. We use Wolf's equations for the QE including a drift field E, and model E as being equal to the junction built-in voltage distributed uniformly across the depletion region.This allows us to calculate the QE as a function of L and depletion width WD. We show that if L is sufficiently small, increasing WD can actually decrease the QE. To determine how long L needs to be in a practical GaInNAs junction, we calculate from the QE the short-circuit current density as a function of WD and L. This allows us to estimate that Lambipolar needs to be greater than roughly 1 ?min order to obtain enough photocurrent for the 4-junction application, giving guidance to the experimental effort to develop such cells.
    Original languageAmerican English
    Number of pages7
    StatePublished - 2005
    Event31st IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference and Exhibition - Lake Buena Vista, Florida
    Duration: 3 Jan 20057 Jan 2005

    Conference

    Conference31st IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference and Exhibition
    CityLake Buena Vista, Florida
    Period3/01/057/01/05

    NREL Publication Number

    • NREL/CP-520-37418

    Keywords

    • depletion-region collection
    • drift field
    • photocurrent
    • PV
    • quantum efficiency (QE)
    • solar cells

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