COMPOSITIONALLY GRADED DILUTE GROUP III-V NITRIDE CELL WITH BLOCKING LAYERS FOR MULTIJUNCTION SOLAR CELL

摘要

A dilute Group III-V nitride solar cell is provided for use in a multijunction solar cell having a p-n junction formed by p-type and n-type layers of dilute Group III-V nitride material, such as GaNAs. Blocking layers of a group III-V ternary alloy are formed on opposing surfaces of the p-n junction to improve the electron and hole collection efficiency of the p-n junction by preventing the flow of electrons and holes, respectively, into the adjacent layers of the multijunction solar cell in certain directions. The III-V nitride solar cell is current matched to other solar cells of the multijunction solar cell. The III-V nitride solar cell may possess a bandgap of approximately 1.0 eV to serve as one junction of the multijunction solar cell. The p-type and n-type layers may further have compositionally graded nitrogen concentrations to provide an electric field for more efficient charge collection.