Open‐circuit voltage characteristics of InP‐based multiple‐quantum‐well (MQW) solar cells are studied experimentally and theoretically. Experimental results are presented for spectral response and terminal characteristics of In0.53Ga0.47As/InP MQW cells and compared with results from a corresponding bulk p‐i‐n control cell. Open‐circuit voltages measured for these cells, and for other InGaAs/InP and InAsP/InP MQW cells reported in the literature, are then analyzed using a simple ideal theory for MQW cells which attributes open‐circuit voltage reductions to increased radiative recombination in the quantum wells. The large (0.19–0.33 V) measured open‐circuit voltage reductions which accompany introduction of the quantum wells are shown to agree with predictions from the ideal theory to within ∼0.03 V on average. Finally, implications of this work for the design of efficient InP‐based MQW solar cells are discussed.

1.
K. W. J.
Barnham
,
B.
Braun
,
J.
Nelson
, and
M.
Paxman
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
59
,
135
(
1991
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
2.
K. W. J. Barnham, J. M. Barnes, B. Braun, J. P. Connolly, G. Haarpaintner, J. A. Nelson, and M. Paxman, Proceedings of the 11th EC Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (Harwood Academic, Montreux, 1992), p. 146.
3.
M.
Paxman
,
J.
Nelson
,
B.
Braun
,
J.
Connolly
,
K. W. J.
Barnham
,
C. T.
Foxon
, and
J. S.
Roberts
,
J. Appl. Phys.
74
,
614
(
1993
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
4.
J. Nelson, K. Barnham, J. Connolly, G. Haarpaintner, C. Button, and J. Roberts, Proceedings of the 12th EC Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (Stephens and Associates, Amsterdam, 1994), p. 1370.
5.
G. Haarpaintner, J. Barnes, K. W. J. Barnham, J. Connolly, S. S. Dosanjh, J. Nelson, C. Roberts, C. Button, G. Hill, M. A. Pate, and J. S. Roberts, in Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (IEEE, New York, 1995), p. 1783.
6.
J. Barnes, T. Ali, K. W. J. Barnham, J. Nelson, E. S. M. Tsui, J. S. Roberts, M. A. Pate, and S. S. Dosanjh, in Ref. 4, p. 1374.
7.
F. W. Ragay, J. H. Wolter, A. Marti, and G. L. Araujo, in Ref. 5, p. 1754.
8.
Y. Yazawa, T. Kitatani, J. Minemura, K. Tamury, and T. Warabisako, in Ref. 5, p. 1878.
9.
A. Freundlich, V. Rossignol, M. F. Vilela, P. Renaud, A. Bensaoula, and N. Medelci, in Ref. 5, p. 1886.
10.
N. G.
Anderson
,
J. Appl. Phys.
78
,
1850
(
1995
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
11.
A.
Baliga
,
D.
Trivedi
, and
N. G.
Anderson
,
Phys. Rev. B
49
,
10402
(
1994
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
12.
J.
Nelson
,
M.
Paxman
,
K. W. J.
Barnham
,
J. S.
Roberts
, and
C.
Button
,
IEEE J. Quantum Electron.
29
,
1460
(
1993
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
13.
This estimate, which is obtained from the AMO spectrum and the baseline-cell and quantum-well band gaps, assumes total photon absorption above the lowest band gap in the structure and total carrier collection. It is an underestimate only if the quantum efficiency at photon energies above the InP gap is smaller than it is for photon energies below the InP gap but above the quantum-well gap. See Ref. 10 for a discussion.
14.
The expression for rR given in Ref. 10 includes additional factors which account for differences in the radiative coefficients and volume densities of states between the barrier material and quantum wells. Cell properties were found to be relatively insensitive to these differences, so these factors are neglected in this work.
15.
K. W. J.
Barnham
 and
G.
Duggan
,
J. Appl. Phys.
67
,
3490
(
1990
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
This content is only available via PDF.
© 1996 American Institute of Physics.
1996
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.