Title :
Direct glassed and ultrathin GaAs cells
Author :
Hardingham, C. ; Hayward, A. ; Cross, T.A. ; Goodbody, C.
Author_Institution :
EEV Ltd., Chelmsford, UK
Abstract :
Solar cells can be attached to their protective cover-glass without any flexible adhesive. The devices then potentially have the advantages of higher ruggedness, lower mass and increased radiation hardness in high radiation environments. This paper describes the development of direct glassed (DG) GaAs solar cells, ultrathin cells (UTCs), and direct glassed ultrathin cells (DG-UTCs), for first in-orbit testing on the STRV solar cell flight experiment. To date, 4 cm2 UTCs bonded with conventional DC93-500 have been demonstrated with 1 sun AM0 (25°C) efficiencies of up to 19.7%. Thick (280 μm) DG cells with efficiencies up to 16.3%, and 10 μm DG-UTCs of up to 17.8% have been realised. The trials have indicated several approaches to improve UTCs to avoid any performance penalty, at a moderate increase in cost over conventional unthinned cells
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; photovoltaic power systems; semiconductor device packaging; semiconductor device testing; semiconductor materials; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; 1 sun AM0 efficiencies; 10 mum; 16.3 to 19.7 percent; 25 C; 280 mum; DC93-500; GaAs; STRV solar cell flight experiment; bonded ultrathin cells; direct glassed GaAs solar cells; ultrathin GaAs cells; ultrathin cells; Assembly; Bonding; Fabrication; Gallium arsenide; Glass; Gold alloys; Photovoltaic cells; Protection; Testing; Windows;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 1994., Conference Record of the Twenty Fourth. IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 1994, 1994 IEEE First World Conference on
Conference_Location :
Waikoloa, HI
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1460-3
DOI :
10.1109/WCPEC.1994.521664
