Solaero Technologies Corp.

Solareo Technologies Corp.

Pravin Patel

Mark A Stan

Benjamin Cho

Arthur Cornfeld

Paul R Sharps

Yong Lin

Daniel James Aiken

John Y Spann

Kevin Crist

Chetung George Huang

Daniel McGlynn

Bed Pantha

Daniel Derkacs

Jeff Steinfeldt

John Hart

Zachary Bittner

Jeffrey Steinfeldt

Fred Newman

Nathaniel Miller

Alexander Haas

Samantha Cruz

Brian Guzie

Samantha Whipple

Jeff Steinfeld

A multijunction solar cell and its method of fabrication, including an upper and a lower solar subcell each having an emitter layer and a base layer forming a photoelectric junction; a near infrared (NIR) wideband reflector layer disposed below the upper subcell and above the lower subcell for reflecting light in the spectral range of 900 to 1050 nm which represents unused and undesired solar energy and thereby reducing the overall solar energy absorptance in the solar cell and providing thermodynamic radiative cooling of the solar cell when deployed in space outside the atmosphere.

Distributed bragg reflector structures in multijunction solar cells

A multijunction solar cell including a substrate and at least one solar subcell having an emitter layer, a base layer, and a window layer adjacent to the emitter layer composed of a semiconductor window material, wherein the window material has a graded composition such that the material at the interface between the top surface of the emitter layer of the at least one solar subcell and the bottom surface of the window layer has a compression as measured by a delta in the Bragg angle from the substrate in a range of 0 to 500 arcseconds in compression, and material at the top surface of the window layer has a tension as measured by a delta in the Bragg angle from the substrate in a range of 50 to 700 arcseconds in tension, wherein the delta in the Bragg angle is obtained from a rocking curve from a triple axis coupled scan of &#x3a9; and 2&#x3b8; (omega-2theta) using 1.5406 &#x212b; radiation.

Solar cell with gradation in the top window layer

Distributed Bragg reflector structures in multijunction solar cells

A multijunction solar cell comprising at least a first subcell and a second subcell, a first alpha layer disposed over said first solar subcell grown using a surfactant and dopant including selenium or tellurium, the first alpha layer configured to prevent threading dislocations from propagating; a metamorphic grading interlayer disposed over and directly adjacent to said first alpha layer; a second alpha layer grown using a surfactant and dopant including selenium or tellurium over and disposed directly adjacent to said grading interlayer to prevent threading dislocations from propagating; wherein the second solar subcell is disposed over said grading interlayer such that the second solar subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to the first solar subcell.

Inverted metamorphic multijunction solar cells with doped alpha layer

A method of forming a multijunction solar cell comprising at least a first subcell and a second subcell, the method including forming a first alpha layer over said first solar subcell using a surfactant and dopant including selenium or tellurium, the first alpha layer configured to prevent threading dislocations from propagating; forming a metamorphic grading interlayer over and directly adjacent to said first alpha layer; forming a second alpha layer using a surfactant and dopant including selenium or tellurium over and directly adjacent to said grading interlayer to prevent threading dislocations from propagating; and forming the second solar subcell over said grading interlayer such that the second solar subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to the first solar subcell.

The disclosure describes multi-junction solar cell structures that include two or more graded interlayers.

Inverted metamorphic multijunction solar cell with multiple metamorphic layers

A multijunction solar cell includes an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap, a second solar subcell having a second band gap smaller than the first band gap, and a first graded interlayer composed of (InxGa1-x)yAl1-yAs adjacent to the second solar subcell. The first graded interlayer has a third band gap greater than the second band gap subject to the constraints of having the in-plane lattice parameter greater or equal to that of the second subcell and less than or equal to that of the third subcell, wherein 0&#x3c;x&#x3c;1 and 0&#x3c;y&#x3c;1, and x and y are selected such that the band gap of the first graded interlayer remains constant throughout its thickness at 1.5 eV. A third solar subcell is adjacent to the first graded interlayer and has a fourth band gap smaller than the second band gap such that the third subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to the second subcell. A second graded interlayer composed of (InxGa1-x)yAl1-yAs is adjacent to the third solar subcell and has a fifth band gap greater than the fourth band gap subject to the constraints of having the in-plane lattice parameter greater or equal to that of the third subcell and less than or equal to that of the bottom fourth subcell, wherein 0&#x3c;x&#x3c;1 and 0&#x3c;y&#x3c;1, and x and y are selected such that the band gap of the second graded interlayer remains constant throughout its thickness at 1.1 eV. A lower fourth solar subcell is adjacent to the second graded interlayer and has a sixth band gap smaller than the fourth band gap.

Inverted metamorphic multijunction solar cells including metamorphic layers

Solar cell

A multijunction solar cell includes an upper first solar subcell, a second solar subcell adjacent to the first solar subcell, a third solar subcell adjacent to the second solar subcell, and a graded interlayer adjacent to the third solar subcell. The graded interlayer has a band gap that is greater than the band gap of the third solar subcell and is composed of a compositionally step-graded series of (InGa)AlAs layers with monotonically changing lattice constant, with x and y having respective values such that the band gap of the graded interlayer remains constant throughout its thickness, and wherein 0&#x3c;x&#x3c;1 and 0&#x3c;y&#x3c;1. A fourth solar subcell is adjacent to the graded interlayer and is lattice mismatched with respect to the third solar subcell. The graded interlayer provides a transition in lattice constant from the third solar subcell to the fourth solar subcell. A lower fifth solar subcell is adjacent to the fourth solar subcell.

Inverted metamorphic multijunction solar cell including a metamorphic layer

Cover member for electronic component

A method of forming a multijunction solar cell comprising at least an upper subcell, a middle subcell, and a lower subcell, the method including forming a first alpha layer over said middle solar subcell using a surfactant and dopant including selenium, the first alpha layer configured to prevent threading dislocations from propagating; forming a metamorphic grading interlayer over and directly adjacent to said first alpha layer; forming a second alpha layer using a surfactant and dopant including selenium over and directly adjacent to said grading interlayer to prevent threading dislocations from propagating; and forming a lower solar subcell over said grading interlayer such that said lower solar subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to said middle solar subcell.

Growing community of inventors

Albuquerque, NM, United States of America

Pravin Patel