GaAs solar cells grown on intentionally contaminated GaAs substrates

Abstract

III-V materials such as GaAs and GaInP have some of the best electronic and optical properties of any semiconductor materials, but deposition of these materials relies on high-quality single crystal GaAs substrates for their superior performance. Unfortunately, the cost of these substrates makes these high-efficiency devices only accessible in high-value or niche markets. Here, we explore the effect of growing bulk GaAs crystals with lower purity input materials in order to reduce their cost. We observe that intentional impurities added to the melt before the crystal growth occurs segregate to the top of the boule. Single junction GaAs solar cells grown on substrates made from contaminated boules showed no performance degradation compared to a high-purity control substrate. These results suggest that lower purity Ga and As source materials can be used during crystal growth to reduce the cost of substrates.