Advances in the development of high efficiency III-V multijunction solar cells on Ge|Si virtual substrates

Abstract

Virtual Ge substrates fabricated by direct deposition of Ge on Si have become a pathway with high potential to attain high-efficiency III-V multijunction solar cells on Si. We study the development of III-V triple junction solar cells using two types of Ge|Si virtual substrates. The first uses a thick (2–5 μm) Ge layer grown by CVD, which acts as the bottom Ge subcell. The second, grown by low-temperature RT-PECVD, has a thickness of a few tens of nanometres, with the Si substrate acting as Si bottom cell. We discuss the challenges related to each design (formation of cracks, parasitic absorption in the Ge layer, dislocations, …), present the theoretical design and show the experimental results obtained. Finally, an advanced approach using embedded porous Si layers as buffer layers for crack mitigation is also presented.