Front contact Grid Design for Terrestrial III-V Concentrator Solar Cells

Photovoltaic devices can exhibit an increase in conversion efficiency as increasing power density is concentrated onto them. Design of the front contact grid is a major processing step that can govern the concentration at which the efficiency is at a peak. A series of equations provided by M. Green was used to design GaAs solar cells for concentrations of 1, 25, 50, 100, and 200 suns. The cells were processed and tested under a 1-sun calibrated AM1.5G spectrum, as well as a Large Area Pulsed Solar Simulator to measure device parameters under concentrated light. All devices—except the ones designed for 1-sun—exhibited increases in efficiency with increased concentration. Additionally, series resistance was shown to decrease with the increased concentration design