Future technology pathways of terrestrial III-V multijunction solar cells for concentrator photovoltaic systems

Future terrestrial concentrator cells will likely feature four or more junctions. The better division of the solar spectrum and the lower current densities in these new multijunction cells reduce the resistive power loss (I²R) and provide a significant advantage in achieving higher efficiencies of 45-50%. The component subcells of these concentrator cells will likely utilize new technology pathways such as highly metamorphic materials, inverted crystal growth, direct-wafer bonding, and their combinations to achieve the desired bandgaps while maintaining excellent device material quality for optimal solar energy conversion. Here, we report preliminary results of two technical approaches: (1) metamorphic ∼1 eV GaInAs subcells in conjunction with an inverted growth approach and (2) multijunction cells on wafer-bonded, layer-transferred epitaxial templates.