Capacitance measurements on multi-junction solar cells

The demand for higher spacecraft on-board power and more efficient solar generators has brought a new survey of multi-junction Ga/As cells into the Power Subsystems. The introduction of this type of cells has increased not only the on-board power availability but also the capacitance of the Solar Generator, bringing a new topic to look at when designing its related Solar Array Regulator. This paper reviews the different capacitance tests methods investigated for a proper dynamic characterization of multi-junction solar cells. It provides the most relevant findings and conclusions observed during capacitance test investigations as well as the obtained correlation between time domain and frequency domain test results. A dynamic solar cell model for sequential switching shunt regulator (S/sup 3/R) applications is also presented.