Investigation of proton radiation resistance of CIGS solar cells

Thin-film copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) solar cells are commercially available with AM1.5 efficiencies greater than 9.0% and research cells with 18.8% efficiency have been reported. Earth orbit is being considered for a number of missions and it is timely to investigate the proton radiation resistance of commercially available CIGS solar cells. Analyses have been carried out in order to determine the energies and fluences for experimental radiation resistance investigations AP8MAX calculations and SRIM simulations suggest that proton energies in the 20 KeV to 1.0 MeV range should be investigated in order to understand the role of protons on the characteristics of the CIGS solar cells. While there are significant proton fluxes above 1.0 MeV, their effect on commercially available CIGS solar cells is relatively minor compared to protons with energies around 300 keV.