Manufacturing of Ultra-High Efficiency Thin-Film Concentrator Cells, Final Subcontract Report, 9 January 1991 - 14 April 1991

    Research output: NRELSubcontract Report

    Abstract

    This report describes a research project to study developments required to expedite commercializing the GaAs solar cell concentrator technology. We baseline the GaAs concentrator cell and 1000X module design into pilot operation at Kopin Corporation. To attain these improvements, we will use Kopin`s existing pilot line to produce cleavage of lateral epitaxial film for transfer (CLEFT) GaAs solarcells; these cells already exhibit efficiencies of about 24% at air mass 1.5. We will modify the CLEFT cell to form concentrators that perform well at 500--1000 suns. We will derive the know-how for this modification from an integration of Kopin and VS Corporation technologies. The pilot line will be broadened to include cell receiver and module assembly, using VS Corporation technology obtainedfrom Varian as a baseline. A second-generation design will be formulated to address improvements in the module, and these will be incorporated into the pilot line along with the CLEFT concentrator cell. In parallel, we integrate Kopin`s CLEFT GaAs cell technology with the advanced AlGaAs and InGaAs material technology obtained by VS Corporation from Varian to develop a near-term, two-junctionmechanical stack with an efficiency of 35%. The receiver thus developed will be compatible with a three-junction approach that has been proposed elsewhere by Kopin. Using a three-junction stack can yield an efficiency of over 40%, and when such cells become available, the pilot line process will have been designed to use them. 11 refs.
    Original languageAmerican English
    Number of pages31
    StatePublished - 1992

    Bibliographical note

    Work performed by Kopin Corporation, Taunton, Massachusetts

    NREL Publication Number

    • NREL/SR-214-4608

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