Advancements in the development of thin film amorphous silicon space solar cell for the PowerSphere concept

The authors describe how the development of the PowerSphere concept over the last year focused on the design and fabrication of amorphous silicon solar cells that would meet the space environmental requirements. This is a cooperative effort between The Aerospace Corporation and Iowa Thin Film Technologies, Inc. Modifications to the terrestrial product line necessary to produce a thin film amorphous silicon solar cell suitable for space applications have been identified. A number of experiments have been performed in The Aerospace Corporation´s Laboratories to develop a more robust top contact to collect cell current for the otherwise terrestrial cell produced by Iowa Thin Film Technologies production line. The up-to-date results of this effort are presented in this paper