The effects of space environment on silicon vertical junction solar cells on the LIPS III satellite

The preliminary analysis and results of a space experiment to evaluate the performance of a new generation of silicon vertical junction solar cells and three adhesives for attaching coverglass to the solar cells are presented. Two of the adhesives are used for the first time in coverglass applications where they are subjected to the space environment. SOLAREX vertical junction solar cells which are of 10 Ω-cm silicon with back surface fields (BSF) and back surface reflectors (BSR) are compared to SOLAREX planar junction cells of the same type. The results for up to 566 days in space indicate that the two types of solar cell show about the same rate of degradation in power output. There are no significant difference at this point in the performance of the three adhesives