High efficiency thin-film gallium arsenide solar cells

最近基于砷化镓的太阳能电池的发展已经使效率超过30%。基于砷化镓的太阳能电池在空间应用中的广泛采用也大大降低了材料成本。然而，砷化镓电池仍然比硅电池贵得多。本应用解决了一种可制造技术的发展，以解除薄膜的砷化镓。由于减少了材料的使用，这种方法可以显著降低成本，同时保持高效率。此外，还将开发用于升空电池的光捕获技术，这将使性能的理论极限得以接近，并对砷化镓的基本工艺进行研究。

Recent developments in GaAs-based solar cells have led to efficiencies above 30%. Widespread adoption of GaAs-based solar cells for space applications has also brought about large reductions in material costs. However, GaAs cells are still much more expensive than silicon cells. This application addresses the development of a manufacturable technique for lifting off thin films of GaAs. This approach allows a significantly reduced cost due to reduced materials usage, while maintaining high efficiency. Light-trapping for lifted-off cells will also be developed, which will allow the theoretical limit to performance to be approached, and fundamental processes in GaAs to be investigated.