Light management in mechanically-stacked GaAs/Si tandem solar cells: Optical design of the Si bottom cell

Liu Z, Ren Z, Liu H, Mailoa JP, Sahraei N, Siah SC, Sofia SE, Lin F, Buonassisi T, Peters IM (2015)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2015

Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Conference Proceedings Title: 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2015

Event location: New Orleans, LA, USA

ISBN: 9781479979448

DOI: 10.1109/PVSC.2015.7356238

Abstract

Light management in the Si bottom cell of a GaAs/Si tandem system is crucial due to the bandgap mismatch of the two materials, which results in a low current of the bottom cell. To evaluate the light coupling and light trapping, we developed an optical model to simulate the light absorption in the silicon bottom cell. This optical model is an extension of Basore's analytical model. By comparing the simulation with the measurement of the prototype tandem solar cell, we find that the Si bottom cell can gain up to 2.4 mA/cm2 photocurrent by improving light coupling. In addition, we study the impact of the rear surface reflectance on the photocurrent in the Si bottom cell. We observed that ∼17% relative increase in current generated in this bottom cell can be achieve by changing the rear surface design from a full area metal contact to a local-back-surface-field configuration.

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:

Liu, Z., Ren, Z., Liu, H., Mailoa, J.P., Sahraei, N., Siah, S.C.,... Peters, I.M. (2015). Light management in mechanically-stacked GaAs/Si tandem solar cells: Optical design of the Si bottom cell. In 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2015. New Orleans, LA, USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc..

MLA:

Liu, Zhe, et al. "Light management in mechanically-stacked GaAs/Si tandem solar cells: Optical design of the Si bottom cell." Proceedings of the 42nd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2015, New Orleans, LA, USA Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2015.

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