Enabling low-cost III-V/Si integration through nucleation of GaP on v-grooved Si substrates

Growth of III-V materials on Si could enable dramatic cost reduction for III-V PV by eliminating the need for expensive III-V substrates and enabling high-efficiency tandem solar cells. The direct heteroepitaxy of III-V materials on Si for high-efficiency photovoltaics has progressed greatly in recent years, but most studies have focused on off-cut wafers polished using an expensive chemical-mechanical planarization process (which is not used for commercial solar cells). Alternative growth approaches are needed that can enable the integration of high material quality III-Vs with PV-grade Si materials. Here we demonstrate the use of cost-effective patterning and etching approaches to create templates for selective area epitaxy on PV-grade Si substrates. We investigate the nucleation of III-V materials on these substrates.