Direct-bonded GaAs/InGaAs tandem solar cell

A direct-bonded GaAs/InGaAs solar cell is demonstrated. The direct-bonded interconnect between subcells of this two-junction cell enables monolithic interconnection without threading dislocations and planar defects that typically arise during lattice-mismatched epitaxial heterostructure growth. The bonded interface is a metal-free n(+)GaAs/n(+)InP tunnel junction. The tandem cell open-circuit voltage is approximately the sum of the subcell open-circuit voltages. The internal quantum efficiency is 0.8 for the GaAs subcell compared to 0.9 for an unbonded GaAs subcell near the band gap energy and is 0.7 for both of the InGaAs subcell and an unbonded InGaAs subcell, with bonded and unbonded subcells similar in spectral response. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.