Pulsed laser ejection of single-crystalline III-V solar cells from GaAs substrates

Direct growth of single-crystalline III–V semiconductors on amorphous substrates

The III-V compound semiconductors exhibit superb electronic and optoelectronic properties. Traditionally, closely lattice-matched epitaxial substrates have been required for the growth of high-quality single-crystal III-V thin films and patterned microstructures. To remove this materials constraint, here we introduce a growth mode that enables direct writing of single-crystalline III-V's on amo...

Heterojunction Diodes and Solar Cells Fabricated by Sputtering of GaAs on Single Crystalline Si

This work reports fabrication details of heterojunction diodes and solar cells obtained by sputter deposition of amorphous GaAs on p-doped single crystalline Si. The effects of two additional process steps were investigated: A hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching treatment of the Si substrate prior to the GaAs sputter deposition and a subsequent annealing treatment of the complete layered system. A t...

High-efficiency heterojunction solar cells on crystalline germanium substrates

Reliability of III-V concentrator solar cells

III-V concentrator solar cells are starting to be commercialized. However, no complete studies about their reliability have been carried out. A review about both the accelerated ageing tests and real time tests developed till now is presented. A proposal about the required tests is also done. In this stage, the tests show that III-V concentrator cells are robust devices with MTTFs well over the...

Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Front page headlines in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in 1954 heralded to the world the demonstration of the first reasonably efficient solar cells, an event made possible by the rapid development of crystalline silicon technology for miniaturised electronics. Since that time, the majority of solar cells fabricated to date have been based on silicon in monocrystalline or large-...