Design and Fabrication of AlGaAs-based 1.8eV Schottky Solar Cell

In this paper, Schottky junction solar cells fully based on Al
_0.3
Ga
_0.7
As with optical band gap energy of 1.8 eV are designed, fabricated, and characterized. In solar cells based on AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure, AlGaAs is mostly used as window or electron barrier layer, while GaAs is used as active photon absorbing layer. This work is among the first reports of AlGaAs-based Schottky solar cells. AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction grown using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is used for fabrication of photovoltaic devices. Photovoltaic properties of solar cells are reported, along with experimental details of device fabrication and characterization. The optimized bandgap energy of 1.8eV makes this structure suitable for use in III-V//Si wide-bandgap multi-junction solar cells.