Chen-Chen Chung

Effect of substrate misorientation on the material properties of GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As tunnel diodes

The effect of substrate misorientation on the material quality of the N++–GaAs/P++–AlGaAs tunnel diodes (TDs) grown on these substrates is investigated. It is found that the misorientation influences both surface roughness and interface properties of the N++–GaAs/P++–AlGaAs TDs. Smooth surface (rms roughness: 1.54 A) and sharp interface for the GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As TDs were obtained when the (100) tilted 10° off toward [111] GaAs substrate was used. Besides, the oxygen content in N++–GaAs and P++–AlGaAs layers grown on the 10° off GaAs substrates was reduced due to the reduction of sticking coefficient and number of anisotropic sites.The effect of substrate misorientation on the material quality of the N++–GaAs/P++–AlGaAs tunnel diodes (TDs) grown on these substrates is investigated. It is found that the misorientation influences both surface roughness and interface properties of the N++–GaAs/P++–AlGaAs TDs. Smooth surface (rms roughness: 1.54 A) and sharp interface for the GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As TDs were obtained when the (100) tilted 10° off toward [111] GaAs substrate was used. Besides, the oxygen content in N++–GaAs and P++–AlGaAs layers grown on the 10° off GaAs substrates was reduced due to the reduction of sticking coefficient and number of anisotropic sites.

Effect of Multiple AlN Layers on Quality of GaN Films Grown on Si Substrates

AbstractIn this paper, we present the effect of multiple thin high-low-high-temperature AlN (HLHT AlN) nucleation layers on GaN film quality. A 1.9-μm-thick GaN film grown on Si (111) substrate shows that the multiple HLHT AlN nucleation layers have a significant effect on GaN film quality. This process also plays a very important role in the growth of GaN films on Si (111) substrates. A high quality GaN film with a uniformly faceted surface with very low dislocation densities is obtained at the optimized multiple HLHT AlN nucleation layers 50-nm thick at a temperature of 1010-800-1010°C and a growth pressure of 50 Torr.

Broadband antireflection sub-wavelength structure of InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple junction solar cell with composition-graded SiNx

This work reports a fabrication strategy to improve the antireflective ability of a InGaP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cell, by combining a nano-templating technique and a chemical-synthesis approach. SiH4 and N2 were used as ammonia-free reaction gases in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) to prepare Si3N4 as an original antireflective coating (ARC) layer with better chemical stability. Composition-graded SiNx was successfully integrated with sub-wavelength structure by modulating SiH4/N2 ratio during PECVD deposition, and followed by a controllable gold-nanoparticle masking technique on top of the solar cell. Finite-difference time-domain solution was employed to simulate and optimize the aspect-ratio of the ARC, under the condition of variable refractive index over a broad wavelength window, and followed by the masking technique to obtain the desired ARC dimension. This enabled a low light reflectance (<10%) over a broad spectral bandwidth (300–1800 nm) for the solar cell with excellent stability, because of the triple advantages of structural optimization, better chemical stability and graded refractive index of the ARC. The solar cells performance was tested and showed great competitiveness to those of forefront studies, suggesting the feasibility of the proposed technology.

Gold-Free Fully Cu-Metallized InGaP/InGaAs/Ge Triple-Junction Solar Cells

Copper contacts and interconnects were developed for GaAs and Ge for low-cost solar cell application. In addition, thermally annealed Pd/Ge and Pt/Ti/Pt metallizations were created for ohmic contacts to n-GaAs and p-Ge with contact resistance of 4.4 × 10-6 and 6.9 × 10-6 Ωcm2, respectively. Utilizing such metallization structure for InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple-junction device structure solar cells were fabricated that delivered conversion efficiency of 23.11%, which is average efficiency for the above device structure.

The effect of CdS QDs structure on the InGaP/GaAs/Ge triple junction solar cell efficiency

This work describes optical and electrical characteristics of InGaP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction (T-J) solar cells with CdS quantum dots (QDs) fabricated by a novel chemical solution. With the anti-reflective feature at long wavelength and down-conversion at UV regime, the CdS quantum dot effectively enhance the overall power conversion efficiency more than that of a traditional GaAs-based device. Experimental results indicate that CdS quantum dot can enhance the short-circuit current by 0.33 mA/cm2, which is observed for the triple-junction solar cells with CdS QDs of about 3.5 nm in diameter. Moreover, the solar cell conversion efficiency is improved from 28.3% to 29.0% under one-sun AM 1.5 global illumination I–V measurement.

Effect of different tunnel diodes on the efficiency of multi-junction III-V solar cells

InGaP/GaAs dual-junction solar cells with different tunnel diodes (TDs) grown on misoriented GaAs substrates are investigated. It is found that the solar cells with P⁺⁺-AlGaAs/N⁺⁺-GaAs TDs grown on 10° off GaAs substrates show a higher external quantum efficiency (EQE) but also generate a higher peak current density (J_peak) than the solar cells with P⁺⁺-GaAs/N⁺⁺-InGaP TDs grown on 10°off GaAs substrates. Furthermore, smooth surface (rms roughness: 1.54 Å) and sharp interface for the GaAs/Al_0.3Ga_0.7As TDs were obtained when the (100) tilted 10° off toward [111] GaAs substrate was used. The conversion efficiency of InGaP/GaAs dual-junction solar cell with N⁺⁺-GaAs/P⁺⁺-AlGaAs TD grown on the (100) tilted 10° off toward (111) GaAs substrate is close to 20%.

Effect of the circle-grid electrodes on concentrated GaAs solar cell efficiency

In this study, we investigate the effect of the shading factor of the front grid pattern on concentrated solar cell efficiency, taking the trade-off between the series resistance of the electrodes and the amount of incident light into consideration. We examine the thermal effect with regard to five different circle-grid electrode patterns of the front contact. The front contacts with different grid patterns affect the characteristics of light-concentrated-type GaAs single-junction solar cells. The device parameters analyzed include the open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Isc), fill factor (FF) and conversion efficiency (η). The results of our study show that for a concentration ratio greater than 60x with AM1.5G, the device with a shading factor of 7.1% has the best cell efficiency of 27.05%, due to the smaller current crowding at the center spot. The results indicate that the conversion efficiency of solar cells can be improved by establishing a compromise between the shading effect and the series resistance effect.

The Circle-Grid Electrode on Concentrated GaAs Solar Cells Efficiency

The relationship between front contact pattern of GaAs singlejunction solar cell with conversion efficiency at different concentration ratios is studied in this paper. Five different front circle-grid patterns were designed and patterned on the in-house fabricated single junction GaAs solar cells. At high light concentration ratio, the cell efficiency is strongly dependent on the series resistance of the electrode. At the same time, the thermal effect should also be taken into consideration, especially when a device is operating under high concentration ratio. Therefore, the aim of this work is to find a suitable front contact pattern for a GaAs single-junction solar cell to increase the conversion efficiency under high concentration solar radiation. It is found that the device with proper pattern design geometrical shadowing factor of 7.1% has the best cell efficiency of 27.05% at CR>100x, AM1.5G.