Surface recombination and high efficiency in InP solar cells

Abstract

InP solar cells with AM0 conversion efficiencies exceeding 19% have been produced by adapting the cell structure to accommodate a high surface recombination velocity. This is done by placing the junction very close the surface and using a front-surface field structure in which the doping increases from the junction to the front surface. Analysis of the quantum efficiency at short wavelengths of cells as a function of junction depth indicates that the surface recombination velocity is high (>10/sup 6/ cm/s), which disagrees with measurements made by other techniques.<>