A germanium back contact type thermophotovoltaic cell

A Ge back contact type photovoltaic cell has been proposed to reduce resistance loss for high current densities in thermophotovoltaic systems. The back contact structure requires less surface recombination velocities than conventional structures with front grid contacts. A SiO2/SiNx double anti-reflection coating including a high refractive index SiNx layer was studied. The SiNx layer has an enough passivation effect to obtain high efficiency. The quantum efficiency of the Ge cell was around 0.8 in the 800-1600 nm wavelength range. The conversion efficiency for infrared lights was estimated at 18% for a blackbody surface and 25% for a selective emitter by using the quantum efficiency and a simulation analysis.