Investigation of Rear-Emitter GaAs 0.75 P 0.25 Top Cells for Application to III–V/Si Tandem Photovoltaics

A rear-emitter (rear-junction) n-on-p(+) device design was investigated for use in metamorphic monolithic III-V/Si tandem solar cells as an alternative to the traditional front-emitter (front-junction) n(+)-on-p design for potentially greater resistance to threading dislocation-induced performance degradation. A comparison of MOCVD-grown rear- versus front-emitter 1.7-eV bandgap GaAs0.75P0.25 top cell isotypes demonstrated as 30-mV advantage in W-OC for the rear-emitter design. This reduction in W-OC was determined to be nearly equally caused by a reduction in junction recombination current as well as reduced reverse saturation current from improved quasi-neutral region transport. These results suggest that the rear-emitter design may indeed be a promising pathway for application to metamorphic cells, including III-V/Si tandems, where achieving maximum voltage output is often hindered by elevated dislocation densities. However, further optimization of short-circuit current collection is needed to overcome suboptimal collection probability profiles that could limit the efficacy of such structures.