Increased radiation hardness in ultra-thin GaAs single-junction solar cells

The absorber-thickness dependent, relative efficiency losses for solar cells with a 300 nm, 1000 nm and 2000 nm thick absorber were found to be 20.5%, 26.8% and 28.6%, respectively, after exposure to 1 MeV electron radiation. Thinner solar cells exhibited smaller efficiency losses than thicker devices; a trend that correlates well with the theoretical prediction using a semi-analytical model.