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

In this paper, the experimental results of a 10 MeV proton irradiation on concentrator GaInP/GaAs/Ge lattice-matched triple-junction solar cells and their corresponding subcells are examined. Electro-optical characterization such as external quantum efficiency, light and dark I-V measurements, is pe...

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Authors: Ochoa, M.; Yaccuzzi, Exequiel Eliseo; Espinet González, P.; Barrera, Marcela Patricia; Barrigón, E.; Ibarra, María Luján; Contreras, Yedileth; Garcia, Javier; López, E.; Alurralde, M.; Algora, C.; Godfrin, E.; Rey Stolle, I.; Plá, J.
Format: Article
Status:Published version
Publication date:2017
Country:Argentina
Institution:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repository:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/53073
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/53073
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Defects
Irradiation
Multijunction Solar Cell
Protons
Tcad
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/2.7
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/2
Summary:In this paper, the experimental results of a 10 MeV proton irradiation on concentrator GaInP/GaAs/Ge lattice-matched triple-junction solar cells and their corresponding subcells are examined. Electro-optical characterization such as external quantum efficiency, light and dark I-V measurements, is performed together with theoretical device 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 of about 4% while the GaInP/GaAs/Ge and GaAs solar cells exhibited the highest damage measured 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 cells correlate well with those of triple-junction solar cells. The performance of concentrator solar cells structures is similar to that of traditional space-targeted designs reported in literature suggesting that no special changes may be required to use triple junction concentrator solar cells in space.

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