RADIATIVE EFFICIENCY LIMIT OF TERRESTRIAL SOLAR-CELLS WITH INTERNAL CARRIER MULTIPLICATION

Charge multiplication by hot carriers in semiconductors opens a new pe rspective for improved photovoltaic energy conversion. Here, we estima te the theoretical limit for the efficiency of solar cells that make u se of the best possible carrier multiplication and have the lowest pos sible recombination loss, i.e., radiative recombination only. For a te rrestrial cell under 100 mW/cm(2) air mass 1.5 global illumination, th e uppermost efficiency amounts to 44.2%. Cells with internal carrier m ultiplication require a modified description of their saturation curre nt density. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.