In-Situ MOVPE Smoothing of Acoustically Spalled GaAs for Substrate Reuse

Le résumé fourni par la source

High cost has long been a limiting factor to widespread III-V photovoltaic applications, with the material cost of the substrate being a significant portion of this cost. A potential to reduce this cost is reuse via acoustic spalling of a device from the GaAs surface, however this technique typically leaves a rough surface, hindering subsequent device performance. This research investigates the potential of using metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) growth as a buffer layer to smooth the surface of acoustically spalled GaAs substrates for improved III-V photovoltaic cell yield and performance while retaining the maximum number of reuses of a substrate. Three potential smoothing layers have been explored: moderately doped C:GaAs, highly doped Se:GalnP, and lightly doped Se:GalnP. C:GaAs shows the most promise as a smoothing layer, while Se:GalnP tends to conform to the underlying morphology, potentially increasing roughness in some areas. Further work is ongoing to test the effectiveness of C:GaAs as a smoothing layer for inverted rear-heterojunction GaAs cells grown on both etched and unetched acoustically spalled substrates. Exploring the differences of an in-situ smoothing technique on etched and unetched substrates will inform the techno-economic analysis of acoustic spalling as an emerging low-cost method for III-V photovoltaic cell production.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.