This article is cited in 1 paper

Solid-State Electronics

Dark current-voltage characteristic of triple-junction solar cells: Their relation with the efficiency and the influence of passivating treatments

N. M. Lebedeva, A. A. Usikova, V. V. Evstropov, M. V. Lebedev, V. P. Ulin, V. M. Lantratov, V. M. Andreev

Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg

Abstract: A correlation between the main parameter of a solar cell, the conversion efficiency, and its dark I–V characteristic is investigated. A formula is derived that expresses an increment (decrement) of the efficiency through a decrement (increment) of the current measured at a certain voltage (here at 2.4 V). Relationships are deduced based on which six methods for passivating the sidewalls of triple-junction InGaP/GaAs/Ge heterostructures grown by metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy are tested to see how they influence the dark I–V characteristic. The influence of different factors, such as post-growth annealing, damaging radiation, etc., on the solar cell efficiency can be estimated by taking the dark I–V characteristic.

Received: 16.10.2013

 English version: Technical Physics, 2014, 59:6, 879–883

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