A Comparative Study on AlGaAs and GaAs Tunnel Diodes for Dual Junction Solar Cells

The theory that deals with the state-of-the-art synthesis and characterization is mainly to understand and analyze the structure, properties, and phenomena at the molecular, nano, and meso scales. The theoretical synthesis of a device is mainly performed to overcome four critical scientific “gaps” such as multiple-property design, metastability, accuracy and relevance, and synthesizability to make computational materials design a robust tool delivering new functional materials. This study initially focuses on the semiconductor materials for related technologies and conversion solar energy into usable electrical energy. Today’s cutting-edge research mainly focuses on boosting solar cell conversion efficiencies beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit; lowering the cost of solar cell modules and systems; and improving the reliability of photovoltaic (PV) components. The efficiency and light concentration of III–V multijunction solar cells can be highly leveraged to reduce the cost of high-concentration PV systems. So, at the forefront, we are trying to develop a high-efficiency III–V multijunction solar cell for space and high-concentrated terrestrial applications. However, tunnel interconnects play a vital role in designing a multijunction solar cell. This study investigates an InGaP/GaAs tandem cell for the better pair of tunnel junction under technology computer-aided design (TCAD) environment. For this, a detailed study of different combinations of tunnel junctions (TJ) is carried out. For AlGaAs tunnel junction, peak voltage (Vpeak) of the tunnel diode and tunneling resistance (Rt) are found to be 0.1553 V and −5.724e06, respectively. AlGaAs as tunnel junction gives the optimum results by reducing the series resistance of the cell. For the proposed cell, the maximum short circuit current density (Jsc) = 12.41 mA/cm2, open circuit voltage (Voc) = 2.449 V, and fill factor = 90.23% which provides a maximum efficiency of 27.49%. The performance of the cell is found to be increased by 21% through the use of AlGaAs tunnel diode.