• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.31-38
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• 2018

Multijunction solar cells present a practical solution towards a better photovoltaic conversion for a wider spectral range. In this review, we compare different types of multi-ijunction solar cell. First, we introduce thin film multijunction solar cell include to the thin film silicon, III-V material and chalcopyrite material. Until now the maximum reported power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of solar cells having different component sub-cells are 14.0% (thin film silicon), 46% (III-V material), 4.4% (chalcopyrite material) respectively. We then discuss the development of multijunction solar cell in which c-Si is used as bottom sub-cell while III-V material, thin film silicon, chalcopyrite material or perovskite material is used as top sub-cells.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2004

A thin-film multijunction thermal converter was fabricated through the process using 6 inch silicon wafer semiconductor process and bulk micromachining. Evanohm R alloy and chromel-constantan were used as a heater and thermocouple materials, respectively. The temperature coefficient of resistance of Evanohm R heater was about 75.12 ppm/$^{\circ}C$ and the voltage sensitivity of the thermal converter indicated about 5.75 mV/mW in air. The transfer differences, measured by FRDC-DC method in the frequency range from 20 Hz to 10 kHz, showed the value under about 1.36 ppm, 0.83 ppm for the film thickness of 500, 200 nm, respectively. And in case of a 200 nm-thick thermal converter, the AC-DC transfer differences seems to be stabilized below the value of 1 ppm in the frequency range from 1 kHz to 500 kHz.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.109-118
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• 2018

Silicon (Si) solar cells are the most successful technology which are ruling the present photovoltaic (PV) market. In that essence, multijunction (MJ) solar cells provided a new path to improve the state-of-art efficiencies. There are so many hurdles to grow the MJ III-V materials on Si substrate as Si with other materials often demands similar qualities, so it is needed to realize the prospective of Si tandem solar cells. However, Si tandem solar cells with MJ III-V materials have shown the maximum efficiency of 30 %. This work reviews the development of the III-V/Si solar cells with the synopsis of various growth mechanisms i.e hetero-epitaxy, wafer bonding and mechanical stacking of III-V materials on Si substrate. Theoretical approaches to design efficient tandem cell with an analysis of state-of-art silicon solar cells, sensitivity, difficulties and their probable solutions are discussed in this work. An analytical model which yields the practical efficiency values to design the high efficiency III-V/Si solar cells is described briefly.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.35D no.11
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• pp.46-54
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• 1998

A planar Bi-Sb multijunction thermal converter, which is consisted of a linear or bifilar thin film NiCr-heater and a thin film Bi-Sb thermopile, has been fabricated, and its ac-dc transfer characteristics were examined in a frequency range from 10 Hz to 10 KHz. In order to increase the thermal sensitivity and to decrease the ac-dc transfer error of a thermal converter, the heater and the hot junctions of a thermopile were prepared on a Si$_3$N$_4$/SiO$_2$/Si$_3$N$_4$-diaphragm which acts as a thermal isolation layer, and the cold junctions on the Si$_3$N$_4$/SiO$_2$/Si$_3$N$_4$-thin film supported with the silicon rim which functions as a heat sink. The respective thermal sensitivities in air and in a vacuum of the converter with a built-in bifilar heater were about 14.0 ㎷/㎽ and 54.0 ㎷/㎽, and the ac-dc voltage and the current transfer difference ranges in air were about $\pm$0.60 ppm and $\pm$0.11 ppm, respectively, indicating that the ac-dc transfer accuracy of the converter are much higher than that of a commercial 3-dimensional multijunction thermal converter. However, the output thermoelectric voltage fluctuation of the converter was rather high.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.288-296
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• 2000

Thin-film chromel-alumel multijunction thermal converters with a low output resistance of $64{\sim}85\;{\Omega}$ showed approximately the square law-dependent input-output relation. The voltage responsivities were very low with $0.34{\sim}0.67\;V/W$ in air and $1.15{\sim}1.48\;V/W$ in vacuum, respectively, and the ac-dc voltage transfer error was very large with about +340 ppm in the frequency range of $40\;Hz{\sim}10\;kHz$ in the case of 1 V-input sinewave rms voltage. It can be concluded that the large transfer error of the thermal converter was mainly caused by the low voltage responsivity and the large heat loss due to low output resistance, which implies that the optimization for small ac-dc transfer error is required.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.145-154
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• 2002

NiCr-heaters with three different thicknesses ranging from 400 nm to 800 nm were fabricated and their characteristics were compared for the purpose of developing a chromel-alumel multijunction thermal converter for low input voltage with low frequency. The thermoelectric effect-induced AC-DC voltage transfer difference of the thermal converter with a built-in NiCr-heater of 400 nm-thickness was ${\pm}0.51{\sim}1.69\;ppm$ in the DC reversing frequency of $40\;Hz{\sim}10\;kHz$ with appling $0.5\;V_{rms}$ and the difference was increased to ${\pm}40{\sim}{\pm}115\;ppm$ in the frequency of $40\;Hz{\sim}1\;MHz$, when both thermoelectric effects and frequency effects were considered, showing the thermal converter would be suitable for the low input voltage application with low frequency.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.442-453
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• 2023

Tandem or multijunction solar cells (MJSCs) can convert sunlight into electricity with higher efficiency (η) than single junction solar cells (SJSCs) by dividing the solar irradiance over sub-cells having distinct bandgaps. The efficiencies of various common SJSC materials are close to the edge of their theoretical efficiency and hence there is a tremendous growing interest in utilizing the tandem/multijunction technique. Recently, III-V materials integration on a silicon substrate has been broadly investigated in the development of III-V on Si tandem solar cells. Numerous growth techniques such as heteroepitaxial growth, wafer bonding, and mechanical stacking are crucial for better understanding of high-quality III-V epitaxial layers on Si. As the choice of growth method and substrate selection can significantly impact the quality and performance of the resulting tandem cell and the terminal configuration exhibit a vital role in the overall proficiency. Parallel and Series-connected configurations have been studied, each with its advantage and disadvantages depending on the application and cell configuration. The optimization of both growth mechanisms and terminal configurations is necessary to further improve efficiency and lessen the cost of III-V on Si tandem solar cells. In this review article, we present an overview of the growth mechanisms and terminal configurations with the areas of research that are crucial for the commercialization of III-V on Si tandem solar cells.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.1113-1116
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• 2003

This review article gives a comprehensive compilation of recent developments in low temperature deposited poly Si flms, also known as microcrystalline silicon. The development of various ion energy suppression techniques for plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition and ionless depositions such as HWCVD and expanding thermal plasma, and their effect on the material and solar cell efficiencies are described. A correlation between ef.ciency and the two most important process parameters, i.e., growth rate and process temperature is carried out. Finally, the application of these poly Si cells in multijunction cell structures and the best efficiencies worldwide by various deposition techniques are discussed.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1994.07b
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• pp.1435-1438
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• 1994

The effects of Ge composition variation in $a-Si_{1-x}Ge_x:H$ alloy p-i-n solar cells on the physical properties and current density-voltage characteristics are analyzed by a new simulation modelling based on the update published experimental datas. The simulation modelling includes newly formulated density of gap density spectrum corresponding to Ge composition variation and utilizes the newly derived generation rate formulars which include the reflection coefficients and can apply to multijunction structures as well as single junction structure. The effects in $a-Si_{1-x}Ge_x:H$ single junction are analyzed through the efficiency, fill factor, open circuit voltage, short circuit current density, free carriers, trap carriers, electric field, generation rate and recombination rate. Based on the results analyzed in single junction structure, the applications to multiple junction structures are discussed and the optimal conditions reaching to a high performance are investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.308-309
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• 2012

One of the critical issues in the growth of multijunction solar cell is the formation of a highly doped Esaki interband tunnel diode which interconnects unit cells of different energy band gap. Small electrical and optical losses are the requirements of such tunnel diodes [1]. To satisfy these requirements, tens of nanometer thick gallium arsenide (GaAs) can be a proper candidate due to its high carrier concentration in low energy band gap. To obtain highly doped GaAs in molecular beam epitaxy, the temperatures of Si Knudsen cell (K-cell) for n-type GaAs and Be K-cell for p-type GaAs were controlled during GaAs epitaxial growth, and the growth rate is set to 1.75 A/s. As a result, the doping concentration of p-type and n-type GaAs increased up to $4.7{\times}10^{19}cm^{-3}$ and $6.2{\times}10^{18}cm^{-3}$, respectively. However, the obtained n-type doping concentration is not sufficient to form a properly operating tunnel diode which requires a doping concentration close to $1.0{\times}10^{19}cm^{-3}$ [2]. To enhance the n-type doping concentration, n-doped GaAs samples were grown with a lower growth rate ranging from 0.318 to 1.123 A/s at a Si K-cell temperature of $1,180^{\circ}C$. As shown in Fig. 1, the n-type doping concentration was increased to $7.7{\times}10^{18}cm^{-3}$ when the growth rate was decreased to 0.318 A/s. The p-type doping concentration also increased to $4.1{\times}10^{19}cm^{-3}$ with the decrease of growth rate to 0.318 A/s. Additionally, bulk resistance was also decreased in both the grown samples. However, a transmission line measurement performed on the n-type GaAs sample grown at the rate of 0.318 A/s showed an increased specific contact resistance of $6.62{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^{-2}$. This high value of contact resistance is not suitable for forming contacts and interfaces. The increased resistance is attributed to the excessively incorporated dopant during low growth rate. Further studies need to be carried out to evaluate the effect of excess dopants on the operation of tunnel diode.