Metal grid contact design of four-terminal tandem solar cells

Sofia SE, Ren Z, Kanghah NS, Zhe L, Buonassisi T, Peters IM (2017)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2017

Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Pages Range: 2502-2505

Conference Proceedings Title: 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017

Event location: Washington, DC, USA

ISBN: 9781509056057

DOI: 10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366637

Abstract

Tandem solar cells comprised of a III-V material on Si offer a path to efficiencies exceeding 30%. The four- terminal architecture, in which each of the two sub-cells is electrically independent, allows for especially high energy yields, as it is not limited by current-matching. Each sub-cells' contacts cause optical and electrical losses, however; and a careful optimization is required to exploit the full potential of this architecture. In this study, we explore the potential efficiency gains of an example 21.3% GaAs-on-Si four-terminal tandem [1] by re-designing the metal grid contact geometry. We optimize and model the contact losses and predict a potential efficiency increase of 3.4% We demonstrate the importance of careful metal grid design and the benefits of using energy yield as a figure of merit when design contacts for a practical 4T tandem subject to realistic operating conditions.

Involved external institutions

Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) SG Singapore (SG) National University of Singapore (NUS) SG Singapore (SG) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Sofia, S.E., Ren, Z., Kanghah, N.S., Zhe, L., Buonassisi, T., & Peters, I.M. (2017). Metal grid contact design of four-terminal tandem solar cells. In 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017 (pp. 2502-2505). Washington, DC, USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc..

MLA:

Sofia, Sarah E., et al. "Metal grid contact design of four-terminal tandem solar cells." Proceedings of the 44th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017, Washington, DC, USA Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2017. 2502-2505.

BibTeX: Download