Experimental Confirmation of the Optoelectronic Reciprocity Theorem in High-Efficiency CuIn1−xGaxSe2 Solar Cells

The optoelectronic reciprocity theorem has been proposed as a theorem relating electroluminescence (EL) and photovoltaic external quantum efficiency in solar cells. The theorem is vital for a fundamental understanding of solar cell operation and its application to device evaluation. Furthermore, with this theorem, it is also possible to estimate the open-circuit voltage (${V}_{\mathrm{OC}}$) of solar cells using the external radiative efficiency (${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\mathrm{ext}}$) obtained from the absolute value of EL emission intensity, even for solar cells for which we cannot directly measure ${V}_{\mathrm{OC}}$, such as subcells of multijunction solar cells or individual $\mathrm{Si}$ cells in modules and arrays. However, it is not a priori obvious that the optoelectronic reciprocity theorem holds for the various solar cells that exist. In this study, we report the results of qualitative and quantitative confirmation of the validity of the optoelectronic reciprocity theorem for high-efficiency ${\mathrm{Cu}\mathrm{In}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Ga}}_{x}{\mathrm{Se}}_{2}$ (CIGS) solar cells fabricated by us. The results confirm that our CIGS solar cells qualitatively and quantitatively satisfy the optoelectronic reciprocity theorem within the limits of measurement uncertainty. Also, we experimentally confirm that the value of the diode ideality factor for the applied voltage dependence of the EL emission intensity is exactly unity when the emission mechanism is the band-edge emission due to the direct recombination of electron-hole pairs. Finally, the importance of the ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{\mathrm{ext}}$ for improving solar cell efficiency is explained.