Power recovery of radiation-damaged gallium arsenide and indium phosphide solar cells. Master's thesis

Technical Report · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6464056

Cypranowski, C

Radiation damaging to on-orbit solar arrays was found to significantly decrease power output and efficiency. By a process of annealing, these cells can recover some of the initial performance parameters. Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and Indium Phosphide (InP) solar cells were subjected to 1 MeV electron radiation by a Dynamitron linear accelerator at two fluence levels of 1E14 and 1E15 electrons/sq cm. The annealing process was varied by temperature, amount of forward biased current, light conditions and time. Both types of cells were found to be hardened to radiation; however, the InP cells were superior over the two. Multiple cycles of irradiating and annealing were performed to observe the amount of degradation and recovery. The results prove that substantial recovery will occur, particularly with the InP cells. Applying this process to on-orbit spacecraft utilizing solar arrays as the main source of power will significantly increase mission life and potentially decrease cost of the on-board power system.

• Research Organization: Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6464056
• Report Number(s): AD-A-225307/8/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
140600 -- Solar Energy-- Photovoltaic Power Systems
ANNEALING
COST
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
GALLIUM ARSENIDE SOLAR CELLS
HARDENING
HEAT TREATMENTS
INDIUM PHOSPHIDE SOLAR CELLS
ORBITS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
POWER
POWER SUPPLIES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RECOVERY
SOLAR CELL ARRAYS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPACECRAFT POWER SUPPLIES