Effect of Nitrogen Concentration on the Performance of Ga1-xInxNyAs1-y Solar Cells

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

    Abstract

    A study of Ga1-xInxNyAs1-y solar cells shows that nitrogen degrades the solar cells even for very small nitrogen concentrations. By comparing the properties of p-on-n and n-on-p Ga1-xInxNyAs1-y cells as a function of y, we find that the n-on-p cells show a more abrupt decrease in the open-circuit voltage and greater decrease of the photocurrent. The asymmetry in the performance of the cellsreflects the differences observed for electrons and holes in Ga1-xInxNyAs1-y. The electron mobility is degraded much more than the hole mobility when nitrogen is added to GaAs, implying that the electron diffusion length should be degraded more than the hole diffusion length. An electron trap (observed by deep-level transient spectroscopy) affects p-type GaNyAs1-y more than n-type GaNyAs1-y,consistent with the observation that the open-circuit voltage of n-on-p cells decreases more than that of p-on-n cells. The effect of nitrogen on GaNAs cells is shown to be much greater than expected for an isoelectronic impurity.
    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-520-37361

    Keywords

    • deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS)
    • isoelectronic impurity
    • nitrogen concentration
    • open-circuit voltages
    • PV
    • solar cells

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Effect of Nitrogen Concentration on the Performance of Ga1-xInxNyAs1-y Solar Cells'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this