Strained In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As/In/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As (x>0.6) multiquantum well thermophotovoltaic converters

In this work a new thermophotovoltaic converter is investigated. Strained narrow band gap In/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As/In/sub 0.47/Ga/sub 0.53/As (x>0.6) multiple quantum wells (MQW) are introduced within the intrinsic region of a conventional In/sub 0.47/Ga/sub 0.53/As p-i-n cell lattice matched to InP. An appropriate choice of well/barrier thickness and number of wells in the i-region maintains the pseudomorphism and lattice matching to InP, while, the presence of narrow band gap wells extends photon absorption up to that of confined energy states in wells. For low temperature black body emitters (1200-1500 K), this new device conversion efficiency is predicted to exceed twice that of its conventional counterpart.