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In order to realize a clean energy society by using renewable energies, high-performance solar cells are a very attractive proposition. The development of high-performance solar cells offers a promising pathway toward achieving high power per unit cost for many applications. As state-of-the-art of single-junction solar cells are approaching the Shockley–Queisser limit of 32%–33%, an important strategy to raise the efficiency of solar cells further is stacking solar cell materials with different bandgaps to absorb different colors of the solar spectrum. The III–V semiconductor materials provide a relatively convenient system for fabricating multi-junction solar cells providing semiconductor materials that effectively span the solar spectrum as demonstrated by world record efficiencies (39.2% under one-sun and 47.1% under concentration) for six-junction solar cells. This success has inspired attempts to achieve the same with other materials like perovskites for which lower manufacturing costs may be achieved. Recently, Si multi-junction solar cells such as III–V/Si, II–VI/Si, chalcopyrite/Si, and perovskite/Si have become popular and are getting closer to economic competitiveness. Here, we discuss the perspectives of multi-junction solar cells from the viewpoint of efficiency and low-cost potential based on scientific and technological arguments and possible market applications. In addition, this article provides a brief overview of recent developments with respect to III–V multi-junction solar cells, III–V/Si, II–VI/Si, perovskite/Si tandem solar cells, and some new ideas including so-called 3rd generation concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analytical drift-diffusion formalism is able to accurately simulate a wide range of solar cell architectures and was recently extended to include those with back surface reflectors. However, as solar cells approach the limits of material quality, photon recycling effects become increasingly important in predicting the behavior of these cells. In particular, the minority carrier diffusion length is significantly affected by the photon recycling, with consequences for the solar cell performance. In this paper, we outline an approach to account for photon recycling in the analytical Hovel model and compare analytical model predictions to GaAs-based experimental devices operating close to the fundamental efficiency limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optical and electrical properties of many III-V alloys change with the degree of CuPt atomic ordering, which is very sensitive to growth conditions. The bulk ordered alloy is elongated along the normal to the ordered planes, and is asymmetrically strained when coherent to a cubic substrate. Here, we demonstrate in situ measurement of the anisotropic strain due to ordering using two-dimensional wafer curvature. The measurement is sensitive to bulk anisotropies, and so is complementary to other in situ measurements that are sensitive to surface anisotropies. Using ab initio calculations, we determine a maximum strain anisotropy of 0.27% between [110] and [110] when perfectly ordered single-variant GaInP2 is coherent to a (001) cubic substrate. We relate the in situ measurement of strain anisotropy on various GaInP2 samples to ex situ measurements of the order parameter to validate the measurement and confirm the capability to predict material properties. The measurement monitors change in ordering during growth, useful for quickly determining the growth condition dependence of ordering or monitoring order-disorder transitions. More generally, this measurement technique could, in principle, be used to monitor phase changes in any epitaxial system for which the strain anisotropy of the two phases differs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]