Stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022013676-A1
Application number	US-202117373199-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 12, 2021
Priority date	Jul 10, 2020
Publication date	Jan 13, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell, which includes a first subcell having a p-n junction with an emitter layer and a base layer, the thickness of the emitter layer being less than the thickness of the base layer at least by a factor of ten, and the first subcell comprising a substrate having a semiconductor material from the groups III and V or a substrate from the group IV, and which further includes a second subcell arranged on the first subcell and a third subcell arranged on the second subcell, the two subcells each including an emitter layer and a base layer, and a tunnel diode and a back side field layer each being formed between the subcells, the thickness of the emitter layer being greater than the thickness of the base layer in each case between the second subcell and in the third subcell.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell comprising:
a first subcell that has a p-n junction with an emitter layer and a base layer, a thickness of the emitter layer being less than a thickness of the base layer at least by a factor of five, and the first subcell comprising a substrate having a semiconductor material from the groups III and V or a substrate from the group IV; a second subcell arranged on the first subcell; a third subcell arranged on the second subcell, the second and third subcells each including an emitter layer and a base; a tunnel diode and a back side field layer being formed between the subcells, wherein the second subcell and the third subcell comprise III-V semiconductor materials; and wherein a thickness of the emitter layer of the second and third layer being greater than a thickness of the base in the second subcell and/or in the third subcell.

2 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the back side field layer is designed as the base in the second subcell and/or in the third subcell.

3 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein, in the second subcell and/or in the third subcell, the back side field layer comprises a different semiconductor material with respect to the emitter layer of the second or third subcell, or the back side field layer has a different stoichiometry than the emitter layer of the second or third subcell, and the back side field layer has a higher band gap than the emitter layer of the second or third subcell.

4 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein, in the second subcell and/or in the third subcell, the thickness of the emitter layer is greater than the thickness of the base and/or the back side field layer by a factor of five or by a factor of ten.

5 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the back side field layer is in a range between 20 nm and 100 nm, and the band gap energy changes or is constant within the back side field layer.

6 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein a semiconductor mirror is formed between the first subcell and the second subcell.

7 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the emitter layer of the second subcell comprises an (Al)InGaAs material.

8 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the emitter layer of the third subcell comprises an (Al)InGaP material.

9 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the subcells are lattice-matched to each other, or wherein the lattice constants are different between at least two subcells.

10 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein a metamorphic buffer is formed between the first subcell and the second subcell.

11 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein a band gap energy of the second subcell is greater than a band gap energy of the first subcell, and wherein a band gap energy of the third subcell is greater than the band gap energy of the second subcell.

12 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein a fourth subcell is arranged beneath the second subcell or above the third subcell or between the second subcell and the third subcell.

13 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 12 , wherein a fifth subcell is arranged beneath the second subcell or above the third subcell or between the fourth subcell and the third subcell.

14 . The stacked monolithic multijunction solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the emitter has a lower doping than the base in the second subcell and/or in the third subcell.

Assignees

• Azur Space Solar Power Gmbh

Inventors

• Fuhrmann Daniel
• Van Leest Rosalinda
• Keller Gregor
• Meusel Matthias

Classifications

• H10F19/40

  comprising photovoltaic cells in a mechanically stacked configuration · CPC title

• H10F10/164

  comprising heterojunctions with Group IV materials, e.g. ITO/Si or GaAs/SiGe photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H10F10/163

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

• H10F10/146

  Back-junction photovoltaic cells, e.g. having interdigitated base-emitter regions on the back side · CPC title

• H10F77/1248

  having three or more elements, e.g. GaAlAs, InGaAs or InGaAsP · CPC title