Recent progress of Spectrolab high-efficiency space solar cells

Daniel C. Law; J. C. Boisvert; E. M. Rehder; P. T. Chiu; S. Mesropian; R. L. Woo; X. Q. Liu; W. D. Hong; C. M. Fetzer; S. B. Singer; D. M. Bhusari; K. M. Edmondson; A. Zakaria; B. Jun; D. D. Krut; R. R. King; S. K. Sharma; N. H. Karam

doi:10.1117/12.2026756

24 September 2013 Recent progress of Spectrolab high-efficiency space solar cells

Daniel C. Law, J. C. Boisvert, E. M. Rehder, P. T. Chiu, S. Mesropian, R. L. Woo, X. Q. Liu, W. D. Hong, C. M. Fetzer, S. B. Singer, D. M. Bhusari, K. M. Edmondson, A. Zakaria, B. Jun, D. D. Krut, R. R. King, S. K. Sharma, N. H. Karam

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8876, Nanophotonics and Macrophotonics for Space Environments VII; 88760Y (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2026756
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Recent progress in III-V multijunction space solar cell has led to Spectrolab’s GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction, XTJ, cells with average 1-sun efficiency of 29% (AM0, 28°C) for cell size ranging from 59 to 72-cm². High-efficiency inverted metamorphic (IMM) multijunction cells are developed as the next space solar cell architecture. Spectrolab’s large-area IMM3J and IMM4J cells have achieved 33% and 34% 1-sun, AM0 efficiencies, respectively. The IMM3J and the IMM4J cells have both demonstrated normalized power retention of 0.86 at 5x10¹⁴ e-/cm²fluence and 0.83 and 0.82 at 1x10¹⁵ e-/cm² fluence post 1-MeV electron radiation, respectively. The IMM cells were further assembled into coverglass-interconnect-cell (CIC) strings and affixed to typical rigid aluminum honeycomb panels for thermal cycling characterization. Preliminary temperature cycling data of two coupons populated with IMM cell strings showed no performance degradation. Spectrolab has also developed semiconductor bonded technology (SBT) where highperformance component subcells were grown on GaAs and InP substrates separately then bonded directly to form the final multijunction cells. Large-area SBT 5-junction cells have achieved a 35.1% efficiency under 1-sun, AM0 condition.

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Daniel C. Law, J. C. Boisvert, E. M. Rehder, P. T. Chiu, S. Mesropian, R. L. Woo, X. Q. Liu, W. D. Hong, C. M. Fetzer, S. B. Singer, D. M. Bhusari, K. M. Edmondson, A. Zakaria, B. Jun, D. D. Krut, R. R. King, S. K. Sharma, and N. H. Karam "Recent progress of Spectrolab high-efficiency space solar cells", Proc. SPIE 8876, Nanophotonics and Macrophotonics for Space Environments VII, 88760Y (24 September 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2026756

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