Impact of a Metal–Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy Environment on Silicon Substrates for III–V-on-Si Multijunction Solar Cells

With the final goal of integrating III–V materials to silicon for tandem solar cells, the influence of the metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) environment on the minority carrier properties of silicon wafers has been evaluated. These properties will essentially determine the photovoltaic performance of the bottom cell in a III–V-on-Si tandem solar cell device. A comparison of the base minority carrier lifetimes obtained for different thermal processes carried out in a MOVPE reactor on Czochralski silicon wafers has been carried out. The effect of the formation of the emitter by phosphorus diffusion has also been evaluated.