published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Semiconductor multijunction solar cell is a cutting-edge photovoltaic technology aimed at developing a frontier solution to the clean energy demand and environmental problem. Due to the efficient photoabsorption and energy conversion in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges of the solar spectrum, the multijunction solar cell structures have shown an unprecedented application potential by demonstrating a solar conversion efficiency of over 44 %. Among various multijunction solar cell structural designs, the GaxIn1-xP/GaAs double-junction tandem structure is considered as the most fundamental building block for developing the industry-standard triple- and even more junction photovoltaic cells with super high efficiency. Therefore, obtaining a better and more in-depth understanding of physical properties of the GaxIn1-xP/GaAs double-junction tandem device structure, especially some fundamental optoelectronic processes in the individual structural layer, including photoexcitation, transport and the mid-way recombination of charge carriers, is crucial for further improving the energy conversion efficiency. In this thesis, the mid-way radiative recombination, diffusion transport, localization mechanism, and photocurrent spectra of charge carriers in the GaxIn1-xP/GaAs double-junction tandem solar cells grown on GaAs substrates with different misorientation angles were investigated in detail. Our main findings are summarized as below. Efficient radiative recombination of carriers in the GaxIn1-xP/GaAs double-junction tandem solar cell samples was demonstrated by using electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) techniques. The radiative recombination intensity was shown to be dependent on the intrinsic material-related parameters such as the doping concentration, growth thickness and the substrate misorientation angle both experimentally and theoretically. The radiative recombination was thus revealed to be an important loss channel of carriers in the GaxIn1-xP/GaAs double-junction tandem solar cells. Super strong transverse diffusion of minority carriers in the top GaxIn1-xP subcell was found by the micro-EL image surveying. Theoretical simulation on the experimental data shows that the minority carrier diffusion length is as long as ~93 μm at a forward bias of 2.75 V, which is ~30 times longer than that of unbiased GaxIn1-xP epilayer. Origin of this super transverse diffusion was argued, and its influence on device performance was also discussed. Significant correlations of carrier localization and luminescence behaviors with the substrate misorientation angle in the top GaxIn1-xP subcells were unveiled by excitation intensity- and temperature-dependent PL. The large difference in potential energy profile of GaxIn1-xP layers, caused by the different degrees of atomic ordering, was argued to interpret the observed PL distinctions. Vertical transport and photoresponse mechanisms of charge carriers in the GaxIn1-xP/GaAs double-junction tandem solar cells were studied by temperature- and reverse bias-dependent photocurrent (PC) spectroscopy. Both the temperature and reverse bias were shown to have significant impact on the device photoresponse, in particular on the photoresponse due to the absorption of photons with energy above the bandgap of GaAs and GaxIn1-xP, namely the supra-bandgap photoresponse. A model was proposed to simulate the observed temperature- and reverse-bias dependence of the supra-bandgap photoresponse. / published_or_final_version / Physics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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Abstract The objective of this proposed study is to develop the new material CuInSe2 for larger area, low cost and high efficiency commercial CuInSe2 based solar cell for the solar resource in Taiwan. Recently, The¢¹-¢»-¢¾2 ternary chalcopyrite semiconductors, CuMX2(M=In, Ga; X=Se, S) have received considerable potential for nonlinear optics and photovoltaic applications such as a promising material for solar cell. For the request of large area homogeneousness, the electrochemical atomic layer epitaxy (ECALE) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are used to deposit and adjust the composition. The combination of the advantages of MBE and ECALE could produce the large area epitaxial layer and get the precise compositions of CuInSe2 films to obtain a high conversion efficiency for commercial solar cell applications. For the study of large area CuInSe2 substrate, first, the electrochemical atomic layer epitaxy (ECALE) was applied to deposit a layer of CuInSe2 thin film on ITO substrate, and then the physical vapor deposition was applied for the annealing process to adjust the composition wanted. At last, a CuInSe2 epitaxial film was grown on the top of substrate under the MBE process. In addition, under the conditions of fixed In molecular beam flux and excess Se molecular beam flux, we can control the Cu/In composition ratio by changing Cu molecular beam flux to get stoichiometric and In-rich or Cu-rich epitaxial films, and predict the type of conductivity. It could be possible to obtain the high reproducibility and stability of the composition and properties of epilayers by controlling the growth parameters carefully. Finally, We hope it can be used in the manufacture of solar cell and get large area high conversion efficiency.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2008. / Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Minerals and Energy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-246)