Chemical beam epitaxy as a breakthrough technology for photovoltaic solar energy applications

Abstract Chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) is a possible breakthrough technology for photovoltaic (PV) solar energy applications. This paper reviews the present status of epitaxial technologies for high-efficiency III-V compound semiconductor solar cells. It also discusses the advantages of CBE technology over metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for III-V compound solar cell fabrication. CBE and related growth technologies can effectively produce high-efficiency and low-cost multi-junction III-V compound solar cells. Moreover, CBE may possibly reduce solar cell fabrication costs in the future because it utilizes source materials more efficiently than MBE and MOCVD. The cost of solar cell fabrication using CBE are estimated and compared with those using MOCVD and MBE.