Shallow-homojunction solar cells

Abstract

Improvements in shallow-homojunction solar cells based upon a plurality of layers of a direct gap semiconductor material such as GaAs, as well as their fabrication, are disclosed. The shallow-homojunction solar cells have a n.sup.+ /p/p.sup.+ structure in which the n.sup.+ top layer is limited to a thickness which permits significant carrier generation to occur in a lower semiconductor layer. An anodic antireflection coating is applied over the n.sup.+ top layer, and a particularly preferred method for applying the antireflection coating is by anodization. These solar cells can be grown on relatively inexpensive substrates, if desired, such as silicon or germanium.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.