WO1993008606A1 - Concentrator solar cell having a multi-quantum well system in the depletion region of the cell - Google Patents

Concentrator solar cell having a multi-quantum well system in the depletion region of the cell Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1993008606A1
WO1993008606A1 PCT/GB1992/001913 GB9201913W WO9308606A1 WO 1993008606 A1 WO1993008606 A1 WO 1993008606A1 GB 9201913 W GB9201913 W GB 9201913W WO 9308606 A1 WO9308606 A1 WO 9308606A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
solar cell
wells
cell according
band
semiconductor
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/GB1992/001913
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Keith Barnham
Original Assignee
Imperial College Of Science, Technology & Medicine
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Imperial College Of Science, Technology & Medicine filed Critical Imperial College Of Science, Technology & Medicine
Priority to EP92921571A priority Critical patent/EP0608310B1/en
Priority to AU27905/92A priority patent/AU668365B2/en
Priority to DE69218613T priority patent/DE69218613T2/en
Priority to US08/211,850 priority patent/US5496415A/en
Publication of WO1993008606A1 publication Critical patent/WO1993008606A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L31/04—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices
    • H01L31/06—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier
    • H01L31/075—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the potential barriers being only of the PIN type
    • H01L31/077—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the potential barriers being only of the PIN type the devices comprising monocrystalline or polycrystalline materials
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
    • B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
    • B82Y20/00—Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L31/0248—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies
    • H01L31/0352—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof characterised by their semiconductor bodies characterised by their shape or by the shapes, relative sizes or disposition of the semiconductor regions
    • H01L31/035236—Superlattices; Multiple quantum well structures
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
    • Y02E10/547—Monocrystalline silicon PV cells
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
    • Y02E10/548—Amorphous silicon PV cells

Definitions

  • Concentrator Solar Cell having a multi-quantum well system in the depletion region of the cell
  • This invention relates to a concentrator solar cell
  • a solar cell constructed from a semi-conductor of band-gap E ⁇ has a multi-quantum well system formed by the addition, in the depletion region of the cell, of small amounts of a semi-conductor with a smaller band-gap separated by small amounts of the wider band-gap semi-conductor so that the effective band-gap for absorption (E a ) i ⁇ less that E ⁇ .
  • the band gaps are chosen so that at room temperature the quantum efficiency for the collection of charged carriers produced by light absorbed in the wells is considerably less than 100%.
  • the band-gaps are chosen so that at the higher operating temperature under concentration this quantum efficiency rises close to 100%.
  • the energy conversion efficiency of the present invention will rise with increase of temperature whereas it falls in a conventional solar cell.
  • E a and E b it will be possible to ensure that the charged carriers produced by light absorbed in the wells are collected at higher potential difference than in an equivalent conventional solar cell as a result of the absorption of thermal energy from interaction with phonons at the operating temperature.
  • thermoelectric generators and solid-state self-refrigeration elements or "heat pumps”.
  • Figure l is a schematic of the energy band variation across the depletion region of a p-i-n solar cell of band-gap E b ;
  • Figures 2(a), 2(b) and 2(c) are diagrams illustrating the dimensions of layers of various experimental devices.
  • the intrinsic (i) region contains a number (for example, 30-100 represented schematically in the figure) of quantum wells formed by small amounts of a lower band-gap semiconductor between small amounts of the solar cell semiconductor of band-gap E fa .
  • Light with energy E pn greater than the effective band-gap for absorption (E a ) is absorbed in the wells forming electron and hole pairs.
  • E pn greater than the effective band-gap for absorption
  • Figures 2(a) , 2(b) and 2(c) are exemplary devices constructed for experimental purposes.
  • the aluminium fraction is 33% in all cases for the AlGaAs, and the quantum wells are formed from GaAs.
  • Suitable structures could be constructed with combinations of binary semiconductors and alloys from Groups III and V of the periodic table.
  • quantum well systems could be made from Group IV alloys (e.g. Si and Ge) and Group II and Group VI alloys (e.g. Cd,Hg and Se,Te) .
  • a ⁇ Ga ⁇ s as the barrier material and In y Ga 1 _ v As as the wider band-gap material, for example Al ⁇ Ga 7 As (E b about l. ⁇ eV), with the narrower band-gap material being In o.i 5 Ga o. 85 As w ⁇ * 1 E a about 1.2 eV.
  • the temperature of such a cell would be expected to rise by about 80°C.
  • the theoretical efficiency of a conventional GaAs cell would be expected to fall from 25% to 22% in this situation.
  • the intrinsic region of the concentrator cell proposed here should be of sufficient quality so that the built-in electric field is maintained into forward bias and so that the non-radiative recombination lifetime of the carriers generated in the wells is long. If so the quantum efficiency for collection of carriers absorbed in the wells will increase from around 30% at room temperature to above 90% at a temperature 80°C above. On this basis it is anticipated that efficiencies higher than 30% should be possible in the invention described here.
  • InGaAs wells matched to InP barriers may be expected to provide good results as InP is a good conventional solar cell material and the "well depths" would be about twice those in the AlGaAs/GaAs system.

Abstract

A solar cell formed from a semiconductor having a relative wide band-gap Eb, characterised by a multi-quantum well system incorporated in the depletion region of the cell, in which the quantum wells comprise regions of semiconductor with a smaller band gap separated by small amounts of the wider band-gap semiconductor (Eb) so that the effective band-gap for absorption (Ea) is less than Eb.

Description

Concentrator Solar Cell having a multi-quantum well system in the depletion region of the cell
This invention relates to a concentrator solar cell ,
The widespread application of solar cells for electricity generation is mainly limited by the restricted energy conversion efficiency of present day solar cells and by their expense. It is accepted that the use of light concentrators can reduce significantly the overall cost of a solar cell system. However a major problem is that the concentration of light makes the solar cell much hotter, and the energy conversion efficiency of a conventional solar cell falls as temperature rises.
According to the present invention a solar cell constructed from a semi-conductor of band-gap E^ has a multi-quantum well system formed by the addition, in the depletion region of the cell, of small amounts of a semi-conductor with a smaller band-gap separated by small amounts of the wider band-gap semi-conductor so that the effective band-gap for absorption (Ea) iε less that E^. The band gaps are chosen so that at room temperature the quantum efficiency for the collection of charged carriers produced by light absorbed in the wells is considerably less than 100%. In addition the band-gaps are chosen so that at the higher operating temperature under concentration this quantum efficiency rises close to 100%. If appropriately designed the energy conversion efficiency of the present invention will rise with increase of temperature whereas it falls in a conventional solar cell. By suitable choice of Ea and Eb it will be possible to ensure that the charged carriers produced by light absorbed in the wells are collected at higher potential difference than in an equivalent conventional solar cell as a result of the absorption of thermal energy from interaction with phonons at the operating temperature.
Since these devices are effectively capable of converting heat energy as well as light energy, they have considerable potential for a much wider range of applications such as "thermionic generators" and solid-state self-refrigeration elements or "heat pumps".
A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure l is a schematic of the energy band variation across the depletion region of a p-i-n solar cell of band-gap Eb; and
Figures 2(a), 2(b) and 2(c) are diagrams illustrating the dimensions of layers of various experimental devices.
In figure 1, the intrinsic (i) region contains a number (for example, 30-100 represented schematically in the figure) of quantum wells formed by small amounts of a lower band-gap semiconductor between small amounts of the solar cell semiconductor of band-gap Efa. Light with energy Epn greater than the effective band-gap for absorption (Ea) is absorbed in the wells forming electron and hole pairs. In the presence of the built-in electric field in the depletion region and providing the temperature is high enough the electrons and holes escape from the wells and are separated by the electric field to form a current I at a forward bias V and hence produce useful power IV.
Figures 2(a) , 2(b) and 2(c) are exemplary devices constructed for experimental purposes. The aluminium fraction is 33% in all cases for the AlGaAs, and the quantum wells are formed from GaAs.
Suitable structures could be constructed with combinations of binary semiconductors and alloys from Groups III and V of the periodic table. In addition quantum well systems could be made from Group IV alloys (e.g. Si and Ge) and Group II and Group VI alloys (e.g. Cd,Hg and Se,Te) .
One possibility is to use A^Ga^^s as the barrier material and InyGa1_vAs as the wider band-gap material, for example Al ^Ga 7As (Eb about l.δeV), with the narrower band-gap material being Ino.i5 Gao.85 As w^*1 Ea about 1.2 eV. Under concentrated sunlight the temperature of such a cell would be expected to rise by about 80°C. Even allowing for the increase in efficiency which results from the higher light levels under concentration, the theoretical efficiency of a conventional GaAs cell would be expected to fall from 25% to 22% in this situation. The intrinsic region of the concentrator cell proposed here should be of sufficient quality so that the built-in electric field is maintained into forward bias and so that the non-radiative recombination lifetime of the carriers generated in the wells is long. If so the quantum efficiency for collection of carriers absorbed in the wells will increase from around 30% at room temperature to above 90% at a temperature 80°C above. On this basis it is anticipated that efficiencies higher than 30% should be possible in the invention described here.
As a further alternative a combination of InGaAs wells matched to InP barriers may be expected to provide good results as InP is a good conventional solar cell material and the "well depths" would be about twice those in the AlGaAs/GaAs system.

Claims

1. A solar cell formed from a semiconductor having a relative wide band-gap Eb, characterised by a multi-quantum well system incorporated in the depletion region of the cell, in which the quantum wells comprise regions of semiconductor with a smaller band gap separated by small amounts of the wider band-gap semiconductor (Efa) so that the effective band-gap for absorption (Ea) is less than Efa.
2. A solar cell according to claim 1 comprising a p-i-n device, the quantum wells being incorporated in the intrinsic region, so that the built-in electric field is maintained in the forward bias region and the recombination lifetime of carriers generated in the wells is long.
3. A solar cell according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the band gaps are chosen so that, at room temperature, the quantum efficiency for collection of charged carriers produced by light absorbed in the wells is considerably less than 100%.
4. A solar cell according to claim 3 in which, the quantum wells are sufficiently deep to ensure that electrons and holes trapped in the wells cannot escape at normal room temperature but are energised to higher levels at higher temperatures so that the energy conversion efficiency is correspondingly increased.
5. A concentrator solar cell device comprising a semiconductor material which incorporates quantum wells of sufficient depth to trap substantially all of the photon- generated carriers, whereby the trapped carriers will then absorb phonon energy and escape from the wells to produce a useful current.
6. A solar cell according to any preceding claim in which the wider band gap material iε AlχGa1_χAs and the narrower band gap material is InyGa1_yAs.
7. A solar cell according to any of claims 1 to 5 in which the wider band gap material is InP and the narrower band gap material is InGaAs.
8. A solar cell according to any preceding claim in which there are 30 to 100 quantum wells.
9. A solar cell according to claim 8 in which the wells are 5 to lOnm wide and the intervening barriers are also 5 to lOnm wide.
10. A solar cell according to claim 9 in which the intrinsic region is in the range of 500 to 1500nm wide.
11. An energy conversion device comprising a semiconductor structure according to any preceding claim.
PCT/GB1992/001913 1991-10-18 1992-10-19 Concentrator solar cell having a multi-quantum well system in the depletion region of the cell WO1993008606A1 (en)

Priority Applications (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP92921571A EP0608310B1 (en) 1991-10-18 1992-10-19 Concentrator solar cell having a multi-quantum well system in the depletion region of the cell
AU27905/92A AU668365B2 (en) 1991-10-18 1992-10-19 Concentrator solar cell having a multi-quantum well system in the depletion region of the cell
DE69218613T DE69218613T2 (en) 1991-10-18 1992-10-19 CONCENTRATOR SOLAR CELL WITH MULTI-QUANTUM WELL SYSTEM IN THE DEPTH ZONE OF THE CELL
US08/211,850 US5496415A (en) 1991-10-18 1992-10-19 Concentrator solar cell having a multi-quantum well system in the depletion region of the cell

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB919122197A GB9122197D0 (en) 1991-10-18 1991-10-18 A concentrator solar cell
GB9122197.8 1991-10-18

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1993008606A1 true WO1993008606A1 (en) 1993-04-29

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EP (1) EP0608310B1 (en)
AU (1) AU668365B2 (en)
DE (1) DE69218613T2 (en)
ES (1) ES2102523T3 (en)
GB (1) GB9122197D0 (en)
WO (1) WO1993008606A1 (en)

Cited By (6)

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WO1997045879A1 (en) * 1996-05-24 1997-12-04 Imperial College Of Science Technology And Medicine Conversion of heat energy to electrical energy using thermophotovoltaic cells
US5851310A (en) * 1995-12-06 1998-12-22 University Of Houston Strained quantum well photovoltaic energy converter
FR2818014A1 (en) * 2000-12-08 2002-06-14 Daimler Chrysler Ag Silicon-germanium solar cell incorporating a structure of quantum pits made up of a succession of silicon and germanium layers on a silicon substrate
US6423984B1 (en) * 1998-09-10 2002-07-23 Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. Light-emitting semiconductor device using gallium nitride compound semiconductor
US7868247B2 (en) 2001-07-25 2011-01-11 Imperial Innovations Ltd. Photovoltaic device
US8889983B2 (en) 2009-12-18 2014-11-18 Eastman Kodak Company Luminescent solar concentrator

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US6147296A (en) * 1995-12-06 2000-11-14 University Of Houston Multi-quantum well tandem solar cell
ES2149137B1 (en) * 1999-06-09 2001-11-16 Univ Madrid Politecnica SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SEMICONDUCTOR CELL OF INTERMEDIATE CELL.
JP2002057352A (en) * 2000-06-02 2002-02-22 Honda Motor Co Ltd Solar battery and manufacturing method
US6437233B1 (en) * 2000-07-25 2002-08-20 Trw Inc. Solar cell having multi-quantum well layers transitioning from small to large band gaps and method of manufacture therefor
US20050247339A1 (en) * 2004-05-10 2005-11-10 Imperial College Innovations Limited Method of operating a solar cell
GB0519599D0 (en) * 2005-09-26 2005-11-02 Imp College Innovations Ltd Photovoltaic cells
US10069026B2 (en) 2005-12-19 2018-09-04 The Boeing Company Reduced band gap absorber for solar cells
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US8623301B1 (en) 2008-04-09 2014-01-07 C3 International, Llc Solid oxide fuel cells, electrolyzers, and sensors, and methods of making and using the same
GB2459651A (en) * 2008-04-28 2009-11-04 Quantasol Ltd Concentrator photovoltaic cell
US8895838B1 (en) 2010-01-08 2014-11-25 Magnolia Solar, Inc. Multijunction solar cell employing extended heterojunction and step graded antireflection structures and methods for constructing the same
GB2483276B (en) 2010-09-02 2012-10-10 Jds Uniphase Corp Photovoltaic junction for a solar cell
TWI420700B (en) 2010-12-29 2013-12-21 Au Optronics Corp Solar cell
US10283658B2 (en) * 2011-02-09 2019-05-07 The Board Of Regents Of The University Of Oklahoma Interband cascade devices
US11367800B1 (en) 2012-04-20 2022-06-21 Magnolia Solar, Inc. Optically-thin III-V solar cells and methods for constructing the same
US9614108B1 (en) 2012-04-20 2017-04-04 Magnolia Solar, Inc. Optically-thin chalcogenide solar cells
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US10903383B2 (en) 2012-09-14 2021-01-26 The Boeing Company Group-IV solar cell structure using group-IV or III-V heterostructures
US9997659B2 (en) 2012-09-14 2018-06-12 The Boeing Company Group-IV solar cell structure using group-IV or III-V heterostructures
US11646388B2 (en) * 2012-09-14 2023-05-09 The Boeing Company Group-IV solar cell structure using group-IV or III-V heterostructures
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Cited By (9)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5851310A (en) * 1995-12-06 1998-12-22 University Of Houston Strained quantum well photovoltaic energy converter
WO1997045879A1 (en) * 1996-05-24 1997-12-04 Imperial College Of Science Technology And Medicine Conversion of heat energy to electrical energy using thermophotovoltaic cells
US6423984B1 (en) * 1998-09-10 2002-07-23 Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. Light-emitting semiconductor device using gallium nitride compound semiconductor
US6853009B2 (en) 1998-09-10 2005-02-08 Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. Light-emitting semiconductor device using gallium nitride compound semiconductor
FR2818014A1 (en) * 2000-12-08 2002-06-14 Daimler Chrysler Ag Silicon-germanium solar cell incorporating a structure of quantum pits made up of a succession of silicon and germanium layers on a silicon substrate
US6670544B2 (en) 2000-12-08 2003-12-30 Daimlerchrysler Ag Silicon-germanium solar cell having a high power efficiency
US7868247B2 (en) 2001-07-25 2011-01-11 Imperial Innovations Ltd. Photovoltaic device
US8889983B2 (en) 2009-12-18 2014-11-18 Eastman Kodak Company Luminescent solar concentrator
US9778447B2 (en) 2009-12-18 2017-10-03 Eastman Kodak Company Luminescent solar concentrator

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69218613T2 (en) 1997-07-03
EP0608310A1 (en) 1994-08-03
ES2102523T3 (en) 1997-08-01
AU2790592A (en) 1993-05-21
US5496415A (en) 1996-03-05
GB9122197D0 (en) 1991-11-27
EP0608310B1 (en) 1997-03-26
AU668365B2 (en) 1996-05-02
DE69218613D1 (en) 1997-04-30

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