Boron Nitride Separation Process Could Facilitate Higher Efficiency Solar Cells.

Rows of photovoltaic panels are shown atop a building on the Georgian Technical University.

A team of semiconductor researchers based in Georgia has used a boron nitride separation layer to grow indium gallium nitride (InGaN) solar cells that were then lifted off their original sapphire substrate and placed onto a glass substrate.

By combining the indium gallium nitride (InGaN) cells with photovoltaic (PV) cells made from materials such as silicon or gallium arsenide the new lift-off technique could facilitate fabrication of higher efficiency hybrid photovoltaic (PV) devices able to capture a broader spectrum of light. Such hybrid structures could theoretically boost solar cell efficiency as high as 30 percent for an InGaN/Si (indium gallium nitride) tandem device.

The technique is the third major application for the hexagonal boron nitride lift-