Recombination current in AlGaAs/GaAs superlattice solar-cells grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We investigate the effect of the recombination current of p-i-n junction solar-cells. We develop a simple evaluation method of the recombination and diffusion current component of the solar-cells based on the measured three characteristic values: short circuit current, open circuit voltage, and fill factor without the knowledge in the details of the device structure. The advantage of the developed technique is its simplicity and wide applicability to various p-i-n junction solar-cells. We apply the method to GaAs bulk and AlGaAs/GaAs superlattice solar-cells. Obtained parameters well reproduce the whole current-voltage characteristics. The diode current is almost dominated by the recombination current at the maximum-output voltage for both GaAs bulk and superlattice cells. The higher contribution of the recombination current in the superlattice solar-cell is due to the quality of the AlGaAs barriers and the AlGaAs/GaAs interfaces. This result indicates that the good crystalline quality is important to enhance the efficiency of the solar-cells.