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<p>Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) solar cells are proven lightweight and high power density photovoltaic devices that offer significant performance improvements over conventional silicon solar cells; however, only a handful of commercial companies currently produce GaAs cells due to manufacturing costs. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the combined performance of several uncommonly used methods of fabricating thin-film GaAs solar cells, which show promise in reducing the cost of cell fabrication. Using Silvaco ATLAS Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD), we simulated and optimized the performance of back-side contact thin-film solar cells. In such a design, both anode and cathode contacts are placed on the same side of a device, resulting in no shadowing of incoming light. The replacement of the AlGaAs emitter with a Schottky junction was simulated and evaluated and compared to the original back-side contact design. Finally, a method of improving the Schottky barrier height of the Schottky design was simulated and evaluated.
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<br>Subjects: Single-junction; solar cell; SILVACO Atlas; optimization; simulation; modeling; photovoltaic</div>
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Rock, Steamboat</div>
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