Displacement Damage dose and DLTS Analyses on Triple and Single Junction solar cells irradiated with electrons and protons

TL;DR

This study investigates how triple and single junction solar cells degrade under electron and proton irradiation, using DLTS spectroscopy and displacement damage dose analysis to understand their radiation hardness for space missions.

Contribution

It provides new radiation degradation data for TJ solar cells and component cells, highlighting the differing effects of electrons and protons on their stability.

Findings

TJ and InGaP top cells degrade after electron radiation

Proton irradiation causes high variability in cell degradation

Germanium bottom junction is highly sensitive to protons but stable against electrons

Abstract

Space solar cells radiation hardness is of fundamental importance in view of the future missions towards harsh radiation environment (like e.g. missions to Jupiter) and for the new spacecraft using electrical propulsion. In this paper we report the radiation data for triple junction (TJ) solar cells and related component cells. Triple junction solar cells, InGaP top cells and GaAs middle cells degrade after electron radiation as expected. With proton irradiation, a high spread in the remaining factors was observed, especially for the TJ and bottom cells. Very surprising was the germanium bottom junction that showed very high degradation after protons whereas it is quite stable against electrons. Radiation results have been analyzed by means of the Displacement Damage Dose method and DLTS spectroscopy.