10MeV proton irradiation effects on GaInP/GaAs/Ge concentrator solar cells and their component subcells

M. OCHOA; E. YACCUZZI; P. ESPINET-GONZÁLEZ; M. BARRERA; E. BARRIGÓN; M.L. IBARRA; Y. CONTRERAS; J. GARCÍA; E. LÓPEZ; M. ALURRALDE; C. ALGORA; E. GODFRIN; I. REY-STOLLE; J. PLÁ

SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017 vol. 159 p. 576 - 582

0927-0248

In this paper, the experimental results of a 10 MeV proton irradiation on concentratorGaInP/GaAs/Ge lattice-matched triple-junction solar cells and their correspondingsubcells are examined. Electro-optical characterization such as external quantumefficiency, light and dark I-V measurements, is performed together with theoreticaldevice modeling in order to guide the analysis of the degradation behavior. The GaInP(on Ge) and Ge cell showed a power loss between beginning of life and end of life ofabout 4% while the GaInP/GaAs/Ge and GaAs solar cells exhibited the highest damagemeasured of 12% and 10%, respectively for an irradiation fluence equivalent to an 8-years satellite mission in Low Earth Orbit. The results from single-junction solar cellscorrelate well with those of triple-junction solar cells. The performance of concentratorsolar cells structures is similar to that of traditional space-targeted designs reported inliterature suggesting that no special changes may be required to use triple junctionconcentrator solar cells in space.