The effect of oxygen on the properties of AlGaAs solar cells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

Abstract

The effect of oxygen, which is unintentionally incorporated into AlGaAs films during epitaxial growth, on AlGaAs solar cell characteristics is investigated using molecular-beam epitaxy. It is found that oxygen concentration strongly influences minority-carrier diffusion length and that solar cell efficiency greatly decreases as oxygen concentration increases. A model to describe the effect of oxygen on solar cell characteristics is suggested.