Inverted Metamorphic Multijunction Solar Cells with Distributed Bragg Reflector
AssigneeEmcore Solar Power, Inc.
InventorsMark A. Stan, Arthur Cornfeld
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A multijunction solar cell including an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap; a middle second solar subcell adjacent to the first solar subcell and having a second band gap smaller than the first band gap, and having a base layer and an emitter layer, a graded interlayer adjacent to the second solar subcell; the graded interlayer having a third band gap greater than said second band gap; a third solar subcell adjacent to the interlayer, the third subcell having a fourth band gap smaller than the second band gap such that the third subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to the second subcell; and a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) adjacent the second or third subcell.
Claims30
A multifunction solar cell comprising:
- an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap;
- a middle second solar subcell adjacent to said first solar subcell and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap, and having a base layer and an emitter layer,
- a graded interlayer adjacent to said second solar subcell;
- said graded interlayer having a third band gap greater than said second band gap;
- a third solar subcell adjacent to said interlayer, said third subcell having a fourth band gap smaller than said second band gap such that said third subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to said second subcell;
- and
- a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) layer adjacent the second or third subcell.
A method of manufacturing a solar cell comprising:
- providing a first substrate;
- depositing on a first substrate a sequence of layers of semiconductor material forming a solar cell including at least one distributed Bragg reflector layer;
- mounting and bonding a surrogate substrate on top of the sequence of layers;
- and
- removing the first substrate.
A method of forming a multijunction solar cell including an upper subcell, a middle subcell, and a lower subcell comprising:
- providing a first substrate for the epitaxial growth of semiconductor material;
- forming an upper first solar subcell on said first substrate having a first band gap;
- forming a middle second solar subcell over said first solar subcell having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap and including at least one distributed Bragg reflector layer;
- forming a graded interlayer over said second solar cell;
- forming a lower third solar subcell over said graded interlayer having a fourth band gap smaller than said second band gap such that said third subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to said second subcell;
- mounting a surrogate second substrate over said third solar subcell;
- and
- removing said first substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.