Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC

Midwest Research Institute

The United States of America As Represented by the United States

Sandia Corporation

Mark W Wanlass

Jeffrey J Carapella

Angelo Mascarenhas

Myles Aaron Steiner

Murat Okandan

Gregory Nolan Nielson

Paul J Resnick

Jose Luis Cruz-Campa

Timothy A Gessert

Peggy J Clews

Peter Sheldon

James Scott Ward

Kirstin Alberi

Systems and methods for advanced ultra-high-performance InP solar cells are provided. In one embodiment, an InP photovoltaic device comprises: a p-n junction absorber layer comprising at least one InP layer; a front surface confinement layer; and a back surface confinement layer; wherein either the front surface confinement layer or the back surface confinement layer forms part of a High-Low (HL) doping architecture; and wherein either the front surface confinement layer or the back surface confinement layer forms part of a heterointerface system architecture.

Systems and methods for advanced ultra-high-performance InP solar cells

Systems and Methods for Advanced Ultra-High-Performance InP Solar Cells are provided. In one embodiment, an InP photovoltaic device comprises: a p-n junction absorber layer comprising at least one InP layer; a front surface confinement layer; and a back surface confinement layer; wherein either the front surface confinement layer or the back surface confinement layer forms part of a High-Low (HL) doping architecture; and wherein either the front surface confinement layer or the back surface confinement layer forms part of a heterointerface system architecture.

High bandgap alloys for high efficiency optoelectronics are disclosed. An exemplary optoelectronic device may include a substrate, at least one AlInP layer, and a step-grade buffer between the substrate and at least one AlInP layer. The buffer may begin with a layer that is substantially lattice matched to GaAs, and may then incrementally increase the lattice constant in each sequential layer until a predetermined lattice constant of AlInP is reached.

High bandgap III-V alloys for high efficiency optoelectronics

High performance, high bandgap, lattice-mismatched, photovoltaic cells (), both transparent and non-transparent to sub-bandgap light, are provided as devices for use alone or in combination with other cells in split spectrum apparatus or other applications.

High performance, high bandgap, lattice-mismatched, GaInP solar cells

Low bandgap, monolithic, multi-bandgap, optoelectronic devices (), including PV converters, photodetectors, and LED's, have lattice-matched (LM), double-heterostructure (DH), low-bandgap GaInAs(P) subcells () including those that are lattice-mismatched (LMM) to InP, grown on an InP substrate () by use of at least one graded lattice constant transition layer () of InAsP positioned somewhere between the InP substrate () and the LMM subcell(s) (). These devices are monofacial () or bifacial () and include monolithic, integrated, modules (MIMs) () with a plurality of voltage-matched subcell circuits () as well as other variations and embodiments.

Low-bandgap, monolithic, multi-bandgap, optoelectronic devices

A monolithic, multi-bandgap, tandem solar photovoltaic converter has at least one, and preferably at least two, subcells grown lattice-matched on a substrate with a bandgap in medium to high energy portions of the solar spectrum and at least one subcell grown lattice-mismatched to the substrate with a bandgap in the low energy portion of the solar spectrum, for example, about 1 eV.

High-efficiency, monolithic, multi-bandgap, tandem, photovoltaic energy converters

A method of processing an epistructure or processing a semiconductor device including associating a conformal and flexible handle with the epistructure and removing the epistructure and handle as a unit from the parent substrate. The method further includes causing the epistructure and handle unit to conform to a shape that differs from the shape the epistructure otherwise inherently assumes upon removal from the parent substrate. A device prepared according to the disclosed methods.

Methods of manipulating stressed epistructures

A III-V solar cell is described herein that includes all back side contacts. Additionally, the positive and negative electrical contacts contact compound semiconductor layers of the solar cell other than the absorbing layer of the solar cell. That is, the positive and negative electrical contacts contact passivating layers of the solar cell.

Solar cell with back side contacts

Modeling a monolithic, multi-bandgap, tandem, solar photovoltaic converter or thermophotovoltaic converter by constraining the bandgap value for the bottom subcell to no less than a particular value produces an optimum combination of subcell bandgaps that provide theoretical energy conversion efficiencies nearly as good as unconstrained maximum theoretical conversion efficiency models, but which are more conducive to actual fabrication to achieve such conversion efficiencies than unconstrained model optimum bandgap combinations. Achieving such constrained or unconstrained optimum bandgap combinations includes growth of a graded layer transition from larger lattice constant on the parent substrate to a smaller lattice constant to accommodate higher bandgap upper subcells and at least one graded layer that transitions back to a larger lattice constant to accommodate lower bandgap lower subcells and to counter-strain the epistructure to mitigate epistructure bowing.

Monolithic, multi-bandgap, tandem, ultra-thin, strain-counterbalanced, photovoltaic energy converters with optimal subcell bandgaps

High-efficiency, monolithic, multi-bandgap, tandem photovoltaic energy converters

Monolithic, tandem, photonic cells include at least a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer, wherein each semiconductor layer includes an n-type region, a p-type region, and a given band-gap energy. Formed within each semiconductor layer is a sting of electrically connected photonic sub-cells. By carefully selecting the numbers of photonic sub-cells in the first and second layer photonic sub-cell string(s), and by carefully selecting the manner in which the sub-cells in a first and second layer photonic sub-cell string(s) are electrically connected, each of the first and second layer sub-cell strings may be made to achieve one or more substantially identical electrical characteristics.

Voltage-matched, monolithic, multi-band-gap devices

A low-bandgap, double-heterostructure PV device is provided, including in optical alignment a first InP,As,n-layer formed with an n-type dopant, an Ga,In,As absorber layer, the absorber layer having an n-region formed with an n-type dopant and an p-region formed with a p-type dopant to form a single pn-junction, and a second InP,As,p-layer formed with a p-type dopant, wherein the first and second layers are used for passivation and minority carrier confinement of the absorber layers.

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Golden, CO, United States of America

Mark W Wanlass