High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon-on-GaP Solar Cell for Improved Radiation Resistance

摘要

The ultimate high efficiency silicon solar cell is a light trapping thin film silicon structure epitaxially grown on an oxide overcoated substrate such as silicon or gallium phosphide (GaP). In addition to high performance, this thin-base silicon device is more tolerant of radiation effects than a thick-base solar cell because this structure is less sensitive to reductions in minority-carrier diffusion length. The oxide overcoating layer, an integral part of this design, will serve as a dielectric back surface reflector leading to light trapping, and it will also eliminate dangling bonds in the overgrown silicon layer, effectively passivating the silicon-oxide interface and reducing back surface recombination.