MOVPE Grown Gallium Phosphide–Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract

Gallium phosphide (GaP) is, in theory, a near-ideal heteroemitter for silicon solar cells due to its electronic and crystal properties. In this paper, we present n-type gallium phosphide on p-type silicon heterojunction solar cells which have been prepared by direct growth via metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). The devices show very promising results in quantum efficiency and current density. However, the open-circuit voltage of 560 mV is far from ideal. The investigation of two different nucleation processes reveals a significant influence of the antiphase domain density at the GaP/Si interface on the open-circuit voltage.