Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T08:50:50.070Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Simulations of Gallium Antimonide (GaSb) p-B-n Thermophotovoltaic Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2011

Dante F. DeMeo  and
Thomas E. Vandervelde
Dante F. DeMeo
Affiliation:
The Renewable Energy and Applied Photonics Laboratories, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tufts University Medford, MA 02155, U.S.A.
Thomas E. Vandervelde*
Affiliation:
The Renewable Energy and Applied Photonics Laboratories, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tufts University Medford, MA 02155, U.S.A.
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The focus of this paper is the characterization of novel thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cell designs which employ a monovalent barrier layer in the p-n junction. The use of a barrier layer enables these cells to operate at longer wavelengths, higher efficiencies, and higher operating temperatures. Initial designs have been made using gallium antimonide (GaSb), which is one of the more common TPV materials. Simulations were performed using Sentaurus by Synopsys to determine barrier materials as well as to optimize the cell. The p-B-n cell was then compared to a simple p-n junction. The simulations show that a p-B-n cell outperforms a typical p-n junction. Additionally, we expect to see increased performance differentials from this device structure when moving to longer wavelength devices.

Keywords

barrier layerphotovoltaicsimulation
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1329: Symposium I – Nanoscale Heat Transfer–Thermoelectrics, Thermophotovoltaics and Emerging Thermal Devices , 2011 , mrss11-1329-i11-10
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Chubb, D. L., Fundamentals of Thermophotovoltaic Energy Conversion (New York: Elsevier, 2007).Google Scholar
2. Dutta, P. S., Bhat, H. L., and Kumar, V., Journal of Applied Physics 81, 5821–5870 (1997).Google Scholar
3. Vandervelde, T. E., Sun, K., Merz, J. L., Kubis, A., Hull, R., Pernell, T. L., and Bean, J. C., Journal of Applied Physics 99, 124301–8 (2006).Google Scholar
4. Shenoi, R. V., Attaluri, R. S., Siroya, A., Shao, J., Sharma, Y. D., Stintz, A., Vandervelde, T. E., and Krishna, S., in Low-strain InAs/InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots-in-a-well infrared photodetector, Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA), 2008 (AVS), p. 1136-1139.Google Scholar
5. Barve, A., Jiayi, S., Sharma, Y. D., Vandervelde, T. E., Sankalp, K., Sang Jun, L., Sam Kyu, N., and Krishna, S., Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of 46, 1105–1114 (2010).Google Scholar
6. Shao, J., Vandervelde, T. E., Jang, W.-y., Stintz, A., and Krishna, S., in Improving the operating temperature of quantum dots-in-a-well detectors, San Francisco, California, USA, 2010 (SPIE), p. 76081Y-7.Google Scholar
7. Maimon, S. and Wicks, G. W., Applied Physics Letters 89, 151109 (2006).Google Scholar
8. Khoshakhlagh, A., Rodriguez, J. B., Plis, E., Bishop, G. D., Sharma, Y. D., Kim, H. S., Dawson, L. R., and Krishna, S., Applied Physics Letters 91, 263504–3 (2007).Google Scholar
9. Chih-Tang, S., Noyce, R. N., and Shockley, W., Proceedings of the IRE 45, 1228–1243 (1957).Google Scholar
10. Streetman, B. G. and Banerjee, S. K., Solid State Electronic Devices, Sixth ed. (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2006).Google Scholar
11. Wanlass, M. W., Ahrenkiel, S. P., Ahrenkiel, R. K., Albin, D. S., Carapella, J. J., Duda, A., Geisz, J. F., Kurtz, S., Moriarty, T., Wehrer, R. J., and Wernsman, B., in Lattice-mismatched approaches for high-performance, III-V photovoltaic energy converters, 2005, p. 530–535.Google Scholar
12. Vurgaftman, I., Meyer, J. R., and Ram-Mohan, L. R., Journal of Applied Physics 89, 5815–5875 (2001).Google Scholar
13. Kitamura, N., Yamamoto, H., and Wada, T., Materials Letters 15, 89–91 (1992).Google Scholar
14. Sasaki, A., Nishiuma, M., and Takeda, Y., Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 19, 1695.Google Scholar
15. Toyota, H., Yasuda, T., Endoh, T., Nakamura, S., Jinbo, Y., and Uchitomi, N., Journal of Crystal Growth 311, 802–805 (2009).Google Scholar
16. Riordan, C., and Hulstron, R., in What is an air mass 1.5 spectrum? [solar cell performance calculations], 1990, p. 1085–1088 vol. 2.Google Scholar