Effect of GaAs substrate misorientation on InxGa1 − xAs crystalline quality and photovoltaic performance

This paper presents the quality of InxGa1 − xAs (0 < x < 0.2) layers grown on GaAs substrate with different miscut angle (2° and 15°) by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The crystalline quality of InxGa1 − xAs layers was found to strongly depend on indium content and substrate misorientation. The In0.16Ga0.84As solar cells with PN structure were grown on a 2°- and 15°-off GaAs substrates. It was found that the photovoltaic performance of In0.16Ga0.84As solar cell grown on 2°-off GaAs substrate was better than that of In0.16Ga0.84As grown on a 15°-off GaAs substrate, because the InxGa1 − xAs films grown on 15°-off GaAs substrate shows a highly strain relaxation in active layer of solar cell, which causes the high dislocation density at the initial active layer/InxGa1 − xAs graded layer interface.