Polarization-Engineered InGaN/GaN Heterojunctions for Photovoltaic Applications

TL;DR

This paper investigates polarization-engineered InGaN/GaN heterojunctions for solar cells, demonstrating that optimized structures can achieve efficiencies up to 14%, highlighting their potential for high-performance photovoltaic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel heterojunction design leveraging polarization effects, achieving high efficiency in InGaN/GaN solar cells through numerical analysis.

Findings

Conversion efficiencies up to 14% under AM1.5G illumination.

High efficiency modules are possible with In-rich, strained InGaN films.

Polarization effects significantly enhance photovoltaic performance.

Abstract

The photovoltaic properties of (0001) n-InGaN/p-GaN single heterojunctions were investigated numerically and compared with those of conventional p-GaN/i-InGaN/n-GaN structures, employing realistic material parameters. This alternative device architecture exploits the large polarization fields, and high efficiency modules are achieved for In-rich, partially relaxed and coherently strained InGaN films. Conversion efficiencies up to 14% under AM1.5G illumination can be reached, revealing the true potential of InGaN single junction solar cells with proper design.