Indium antimonide photovoltaic cells for near-field thermophotovoltaics

Dilek Cakiroglu (1, 2) , Jean-Philippe Perez (1, 2) , Axel Evirgen (1, 2) , Christophe Lucchesi (3) , Pierre-Olivier Chapuis (3) , Thierry Taliercio (1, 2) , Eric Tournié (1, 2) , Rodolphe Vaillon (1, 4, 3)

1 IES - Institut d’Electronique et des Systèmes
2 NANOMIR - Composants à Nanostructure pour le moyen infrarouge
3 CETHIL - Centre d'Energétique et de Thermique de Lyon
4 M@CSEE - Micro électronique, Composants, Systèmes, Efficacité Energétique

Indium antimonide photovoltaic cells are specifically designed and fabricated for use in a near-field thermophotovoltaic device demonstrator. The optimum conditions for growing the p-n junction stack of the cell by means of solid-source molecular beam epitaxy are investigated. Then processing of circular micron-sized mesa structures, including passivation of the side walls, is described. The resulting photovoltaic cells, cooled down to around 77 K in order to operate optimally, exhibit excellent performances in the dark and under far-field illumination by thermal sources in the [600-1000] °C temperature range. A short-circuit current beyond 10 µA, open-circuit voltage reaching almost 85 mV, fill factor of 0.64 and electrical power at the maximum power point larger than 0.5 W are measured for the cell with the largest mesa diameter under the highest illumination. These results demonstrate that these photovoltaic cells will be suitable for measuring a near-field enhancement of the generated electrical power.

Mots clés: thermophotovoltaics; InSb; MBE; passivation

Domaines: Energie électrique

Dilek Cakiroglu, Jean-Philippe Perez, Axel Evirgen, Christophe Lucchesi, Pierre-Olivier Chapuis, et al.. Indium antimonide photovoltaic cells for near-field thermophotovoltaics. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2019, 203, pp.110190. ⟨10.1016/j.solmat.2019.110190⟩. ⟨hal-02303848⟩