Comparative study on degradation characteristics of component subcells in IMM triple-junction solar cells irradiated with high-energy electrons and protons

Imaizumi, Mitsuru*; Nakamura, Tetsuya*; Tajima, Michio*; Sato, Shinichiro; Oshima, Takeshi

Radiation response of InGaP, GaAs, InGaAs (In=20%) and InGaAs (In=30%) single-junction solar cells, which are the component sbcells of IMM3J cells, were comparatively studied. High-energy electrons (1 MeV) and protons (10 MeV) were irradiated to the four types of the cells. The InGaP cell has the highest radiation resistance to both electrons and protons amongst the four cells as expected. On the other hand, the InGaAs cells have less resistant for Isc compared to InGaP and GaAs cells. However, the resistance of Voc of InGaAs cells is comparable to that of the other two cells. As a general result, InGaAs cells have less radiation resistance to electrons, while they have the resistance against protons equivalent to GaAs cell. These radiation response properties of InGaAs cells are thought to be useful to design radiation resistant IMM3J space solar cells.