Abstract
The effects of inhomogeneous doping and/or composition profiles in the active regions of AlGaAs/GaAs heteroface solar cells have been studied using a realistic computer model. It is found that for n-p devices with moderate surface recombination velocities S, only modest improvements in the cell efficiency are obtained by including linear or exponential profiles. Such gradients become more valuable, however, whenever (1) S increases, (2) the solar illumination is increased through concentration, or (3) a p-n device is desired.