Solar cell stack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11296248-B2
Application number	US-201514937424-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 10, 2015
Priority date	Nov 10, 2014
Publication date	Apr 5, 2022
Grant date	Apr 5, 2022

Abstract

A solar cell stack, having a first semiconductor solar cell having a p-n junction made of a first material with a first lattice constant, and a second semiconductor solar cell having a p-n junction made of a second material with a second lattice constant, and the first lattice constant being at least 0.008 Å smaller than the second lattice constant, and a metamorphic buffer, the metamorphic buffer being formed between the first semiconductor solar cell and the second semiconductor solar cell, and the metamorphic buffer including a series of three layers, and the lattice constant increasing in a series in the direction of the semiconductor solar cell, and the lattice constants of the layers of the metamorphic buffer being bigger than the first lattice constant, two layers of the buffer having a doping, and the difference in the dopant concentration between the two layers being greater than 4E17 cm−3.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solar cell stack comprising:
a first semiconductor solar cell having a p-n junction made of a first material which has a first lattice constant, the first semiconductor solar cell consisting of Ge or GaAs;
a second semiconductor solar cell having a p-n junction made of a second material which has a second lattice constant, the first lattice constant being at least 0.008 Å smaller than the second lattice constant, the second semiconductor solar cell consisting of InGaAs or InGaP;
a metamorphic buffer formed between the first semiconductor solar cell and the second semiconductor solar cell, the metamorphic buffer including a series of at least five layers, each lattice constant of the at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer increasing in a direction of the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein each lattice constant of the at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer is larger than the first lattice constant,
wherein the metamorphic buffer adjoins the first semiconductor solar cell and the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer have a doping, a difference in a dopant concentration (N/cm −3 ) between each of the layers being greater than 4E17 N/cm 3 ,
wherein the dopant concentration within the layers of the metamorphic buffer is less than 1E19 N/cm 3 throughout the metamorphic buffer,
wherein a lattice constant of a last layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer in a direction of the second semiconductor solar cell is greater than the lattice constant of the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the metamorphic buffer comprises an additional layer disposed between the last layer of the series of layers of the metamorphic buffer and the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the lattice constant of the additional layer is equal to a lattice constant of the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the additional layer has a same dopant concentration as the last layer of the series of at least three directly adjacent layers of the metamorphic buffer,
wherein the concentration of the dopant increases in steps from 1E16 N/cm 3 <ΔD<5E16 N/cm 3 from one layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer to a subsequent layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer up to and including a third layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer, and the concentration of the dopant, proceeding from the third layer to a fourth layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer, increases to a greater concentration by at least five times the concentration of the dopant in the third layer, or the concentration of the dopant increases in steps from 1E16 N/cm 3 <ΔD<5E17 N/cm 3 from one layer one layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer to a subsequent layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer up to and including the fourth layer, and
wherein the first semiconductor solar cell, the second semiconductor solar cell and the metamorphic buffer are monolithically integrated.

2. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein the lattice constant of the metamorphic buffer increases layer by layer by at least 0.003 Å in the direction of the second semiconductor solar cell.

3. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein the layers of the metamorphic buffer have an n-doping or a p-doping.

4. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein, in the metamorphic buffer, Zn and/or C and/or Mg and/or Be is/are provided as the p-dopants, and Si and/or Te and/or Se is/are provided as the n-dopants.

5. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein the metamorphic buffer includes more than five layers.

6. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein two layers of the metamorphic buffer have the same concentration of dopants.

7. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein the metamorphic buffer layer is not part of a p-n junction of a tunnel diode.

8. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein Ge or GaAs is provided as a substrate layer.

9. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein an optical rear-view mirror is formed.

10. The solar cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein hardness of each layer of the metamorphic buffer increases from the first semiconductor solar cell towards the second semiconductor solar cell.

11. A solar cell stack comprising:
a first semiconductor solar cell having a p-n junction made of a first material which has a first lattice constant, the first semiconductor solar cell consisting of Ge or GaAs;
a second semiconductor solar cell having a p-n junction made of a second material which has a second lattice constant, the first lattice constant being smaller than the second lattice constant, the second semiconductor solar cell consisting of InGaAs or InGaP;
a metamorphic buffer formed between the first semiconductor solar cell and the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the metamorphic buffer includes at least five directly adjacent layers,
wherein each lattice constant of the at least five directly adjacent layers of the metamorphic buffer increases from the first semiconductor solar cell towards the second semiconductor solar cell, wherein the metamorphic buffer, made of the at least five directly adjacent layers, adjoins the first semiconductor solar cell and the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the dopant concentration increases in each consecutive layer by a range of between 1E16 N/cm 3 and 5E17 N/cm 3 ,
wherein the dopant concentration within the at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer is less than 1E19 N/cm 3 throughout the metamorphic buffer,
wherein a lattice constant of a last layer of the series of at least five directly adjacent layers of the metamorphic buffer in a direction of the second semiconductor solar cell is greater than the lattice constant of the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the metamorphic buffer comprises an additional layer disposed between the last layer of the series of at least four directly adjacent layers of the metamorphic buffer and the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the lattice constant of the additional layer is equal to a lattice constant of the second semiconductor solar cell,
wherein the additional layer has a same dopant concentration as the last layer of the series of at least four directly adjacent layers of the metamorphic buffer, and
wherein the concentration of the dopant increases in steps from 1E16 N/cm 3 <ΔD<5E16 N/cm 3 from one layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer to a subsequent layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer up to and including a third layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer, and the concentration of the dopant, proceeding from the third layer to a fourth layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer, increases to a greater concentration by at least five times the concentration of the dopant in the third layer, or the concentration of the dopant increases in steps from 1E16 N/cm 3 <ΔD<5E17 N/cm 3 from one layer one layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer to a subsequent layer of the series of at least five layers of the metamorphic buffer up to and including the fourth layer, and
wherein the first semiconductor solar cell, the second semiconductor solar cell and the metamorphic buffer are monolithically integrated.

12. A solar cell stack comprising:
a first semiconductor solar cell having a p-n junction made of

Assignees

• Azur Space Solar Power Gmbh

Inventors

• Fuhrmann Daniel
• Guter Wolfgang

Classifications

• H10F77/1243

  characterised by the dopants · CPC title

• H10F77/48

  Back surface reflectors [BSR] · CPC title

• H10F10/144

  comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs,AlGaAs, or InP photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H10F10/142 Primary

  comprising multiple PN homojunctions, e.g. tandem cells · CPC title

• H10F77/14

  Shape of semiconductor bodies; Shapes, relative sizes or dispositions of semiconductor regions within semiconductor bodies · CPC title