Monolithic multiple solar cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9799789-B2
Application number	US-201614988250-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2016
Priority date	Jan 4, 2005
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

A monolithic multiple solar cell includes at least three partial cells, with a semiconductor mirror placed between two partial cells. The aim of the invention is to improve the radiation stability of said solar cell. For this purpose, the semiconductor mirror has a high degree of reflection in at least one part of a spectral absorption area of the partial cell which is arranged above the semiconductor mirror and a high degree of transmission within the spectral absorption range of the partial cell arranged below the semiconductor mirror.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solar cell comprising:
a first cell formed of a plurality of first layers, at least two of the first layers have a different doping from one another;
a second cell formed of a plurality of second layers, at least two of the second layers have a different doping from one another; and
a Bragg reflector formed of a plurality of third layers and arranged between the first cell and the second cell, the third layers partially reflecting incident light back to the first cell and to allow a portion of the incident light to pass to the second cell, wherein the solar cell does not include a multi-quantum well.

2. The solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the solar cell is a monolithic solar cell.

3. The solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of third layers contain at least 10 layers.

4. The solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of third layers have at least two layers that have a different thickness or a different refraction index or are made of different materials.

5. The solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the Bragg reflector is directly adjacent to the first cell.

6. The solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the Bragg reflector is directly adjacent to the second cell.

7. The solar cell according to claim 1 , wherein the Bragg reflector has materials with a band gap energy that is equal with or greater than the first cell.

Assignees

• Azur Space Solar Power Gmbh

Inventors

• Meusel Matthias
• Strobl Gerhard
• Dimroth Frank
• Bett Andreas

Classifications

• Y02E10/544

  Solar cells from Group III-V materials · CPC title

• Y02E10/52

  PV systems with concentrators · CPC title

• H01L31/074

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/03046

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/02168

  Electricity · mapped topic