Title :
GaAs-on-Si solar cells for space use
Author :
Yamaguchi, Masafumi ; Ohmachi, Yoshiro ; Hara, Takahiko Oh ; Kadota, Yoshiaki ; Imaizumi, Masayuki ; Matsuda, Sumio
Author_Institution :
Toyota Technol. Inst., Nagoya, Japan
Abstract :
The GaAs thin-film solar cells on Si substrates (GaAs-on-Si cells) are found to show higher end-of-life efficiency than the conventional GaAs cells fabricated on GaAs substrates (GaAs-on-GaAs cells) under high fluence 1 MeV electron irradiation of more than 1×1015 cm-2. The first space flight of them has been carried out. 48 2 cm×2 cm GaAs-on-Si cells with an average AM0 total-area efficiency of 16.9% have been evaluated using the Engineering Test Satellite (ETS-VI). The GaAs-on-Si cells have been demonstrated to be more radiation-resistant in space than GaAs-on-GaAs cells and 50 μm thick Si cells. These results show that the GaAs-on-Si single-junction and InGaP/GaAs-on-Si multi-junction cells have great potential for space applications
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; electron beam effects; elemental semiconductors; gallium arsenide; p-n heterojunctions; radiation hardening (electronics); semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; substrates; 1 MeV; 16.9 percent; 2 cm; 50 mum; ETS-VI; Engineering Test Satellite; GaAs thin-film solar cells; GaAs-Si; GaAs-on-Si single-junction solar cells; GaAs-on-Si space solar cells; InGaP-GaAs-Si; InGaP/GaAs-on-Si multi-junction solar cells; Si; Si substrates; average AM0 total-area efficiency; end-of-life efficiency; high fluence electron irradiation; radiation-resistance; Annealing; Costs; Electrons; Gallium arsenide; Laser sintering; Photovoltaic cells; Semiconductor films; Semiconductor thin films; Space technology; Substrates;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2000. Conference Record of the Twenty-Eighth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Anchorage, AK
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5772-8
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2000.916057
