CHARACTERISTICS OF GAAS SOLAR-CELLS ON GE SUBSTRATE WITH A PRELIMINARY GROWN THIN-LAYER OF ALGAAS

Characteristics of GaAs solar cell on Ge substrate with a new buffer l ayer structure is reported. The buffer layer structure, which consiste d of a preliminarily grown thin layer of AlxGa1-xAs and a 1 mu m thick GaAs layer, was designed to obtain a high quality GaAs layer on Ge su bstrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Performance of a GaAs solar cell fabricated on Ge substrate with the buffer layer structure was compared with that fabricated on Ge substrate with a co nventional GaAs buffer layer and also that fabricated on GaAs substrat e. A conversion efficiency of 23.18% (AM1.5G) was successfully obtaine d for the cell fabricated on Ge substrate with the new buffer layer st ructure, while it was 20.92% for the cell fabricated on Ge substrate w ith the conventional GaAs buffer layer. Values of V-oc and J(sc) for t he cell fabricated on Ge substrate with the new buffer layer structure were approximately comparable to those of a 25.39% efficiency GaAs so lar cell fabricated on GaAs substrate.