GaSb Applications for Solar Thermophotovoltaic Conversion

GaSb based structures were developed and fabricated by the Zn‐diffusion technique for thermophotovoltaic applications. Investigation of characteristics of cells for a conical system was carried out under a flash tester. Outdoor measurements of an array of three GaSb cells connected in parallel in a cylindrical system were carried out under illumination from tungsten emitters of different lengths. The maximum cylindrical system array photocurrent of 3.5 A has been obtained at the tungsten emitter temperature of 1400 °C. An optimum Zn diffused profile and penetration depth of p‐n junction have been found, which allowed to obtain the maximum efficiency of GaSb cells at high generated photocurrent density of up to 5 A/cm2. Study of the doping profile and characteristics of GaSb cells fabricated by means of a non‐traditional diffusion — from a solid state film diffusant — was performed as well. The external quantum yield of these cells was 0.82–0.87 at wavelength range of 800–1600 nm.