Numerical analysis and performance study of a double-heterojunction GaAs-based solar cell

The main objective of this paper is to present the fabrication of a flexible double-heterojunction gallium arsenide solar cell and analyse the photoelectric characteristics by experimental and numerical investigations. Remote epitaxy was used in addition to metal–organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) to fabricate the flexible GaAs thin film. The practical power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the fabricated double heterojunction was nearly 20%, as tested by a solar simulator at air mass global condition AM1.5G (1000 W/m² insolation and 25 °C). The photoelectric characteristics, including the generation and recombination rates, band bending, carrier concentration and electric potential, were numerically investigated by COMSOL Multiphysics/Semiconductor Module. The experimental PCE was compared with the photovoltaic (PV) cell simulation data of 29% PCE using the MATLAB code/Newton–Raphson method. The comparison was not satisfactory, since the practical solar cell was exposed to high series resistance, which affected the PCE of the thin-film solar cell.