In this paper we report on the recent progress in fabrication and simulation of GaSb photovoltaic (PV) cells with a Zn diffused emitter. The form of Zn profiles in the emitter has an essential impact on the power output of a PV cell. Different types of Zn profiles were realized and used for simulation of PV device parameters. Calculations based on PV cell measurements show that efficiencies up to 30% can be achieved assuming a blackbody temperature of 1300-1500 K and a perfect band edge filter. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.