Flight performance of InP solar cells

Author

Pearsall, N.M. ; Piszczor, M.F., Jr. ; Goodbody, C.

Author_Institution

Newcastle Photovoltaics Applications Centre, Northumbria Univ., Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Volume

2

fYear

1994

fDate

5-9 Dec 1994

Firstpage

2137

Abstract

The paper presents performance data for InP cells on the UoSAT-5 experiment after over three years in orbit (an equivalent radiation dose for Si cells of about 10¹⁴ e/cm²). It is shown that the anomalous Voc losses observed for the ITO/InP cells after 500 days appear to have stabilised. Changes in Voc and Isc for the InP homojunction cells are as expected at the radiation dose received. Some of the cells have shown fill factor losses of 1-2% which have been attributed to the early stage of development for the contacting and bonding techniques. However, allowing for the contacting problems, the InP cells are behaving in agreement with the expectation of superior radiation resistance when compared to the GaAs and Si cells on the experiment

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; indium compounds; losses; p-n junctions; photovoltaic power systems; radiation effects; semiconductor device testing; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; ITO-InP; ITO/InP cells; InP homojunction cells; InP solar cells; InSnO-InP; UoSAT-5 experiment; bonding technique; contacting technique; fill factor losses; open circuit voltage losses; performance data; Bonding; Degradation; Gallium arsenide; Indium phosphide; Indium tin oxide; Manufacturing; Photovoltaic cells; Satellites; Sun; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 1994., Conference Record of the Twenty Fourth. IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 1994, 1994 IEEE First World Conference on

Conference_Location

Waikoloa, HI

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1460-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/WCPEC.1994.521644

Filename

521644