Antimony-Based III–V Thermophotovoltaic Materials and Devices

Abstract

Antimony‐based III–V thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells are attractive converters for systems with low radiator temperature of around 1100 to 1700 K, since these cells can be spectrally matched to the thermal source. Cells under development include GaSb and lattice‐matched GaInAsSb/GaSb and InPAsSb/InAs. GaSb cell technology is the most mature, owing in part to the relative ease in preparation of the binary alloy compared to the quaternary alloys. Cell performance of 0.7‐eV GaSb devices is at ∼90% of the practical limit. GaInAsSb cells with energy gap Eg ranging from ∼0.6 to 0.49 eV have been demonstrated with quantum efficiency and fill factor approaching practical limits. InPAsSb cells are the least studied, and a 0.45‐eV cell has spectral response out to 4.3 μm. This paper briefly reviews the main efforts in Sb‐based TPV cells.