Non-Uniform Radiation Damage Effects And Circuit Simulation Of Triple Junction GaAs Solar Cell

Energy of spacecraft during orbit is mainly provided by the solar cell, so the solar cell operating state has an important impact on the normal operation of the spacecraft. The research of the deterioration of the solar cell helps to predict solar cell life. The deterioration of the electrical properties of solar cells with different irradiated areas was studied in this paper, using the space radiation environment simulation device to simulate the non-uniform radiation. The spectral response, dark I-V analysis and single-wavelength quantum efficient mapping were used to analyze the mechanism of the irradiated damage of solar cells. And the impact of the deteriorated parameters on the performance of the solar cell was studied through the circuit simulating software in this paper.Through the study of the deterioration of Ga As solar cell irradiated by 1Me V electron and 70 ke V proton, we found that the short-circuit current showed linear decrease trend and the voltage of the cells showed exponential decline trend as the irradiated area grows. These performance decline have no relation with the shape and the location of irradiation area. Through circuit simulation analysis, it was found that the reduction of the open-circuit voltage of solar cell was mainly caused by the increase of the reverse saturation current after 1MeV electron irradiation. However, after 70 ke V proton irradiation, the exponential decline trend of the open-circuit voltage was influenced by the reverse saturation current, ideality factor and shunt resistor.Through the study of maximum output power of Ga As solar cell after 70 ke V proton and 1MeV electron, we found that small irradiation area had great impact on the solar cell performance at preliminary stage of service, however small irradiation area had weak impact at late stage of service.Multi-junction tandem cells showing luminescence coupling effect, solar cells luminescence coupling effect will be weak after irradiated. Circuit analysis shows,luminescence coupling effect of long wavelength light and short wavelength light having negative relation. After the non-uniform damage, luminescence coupling effect will show slowly decreasing trend, because of the lateral current and potential difference at cross-section, and luminescence coupling effect of different wavelength light shows lateral dislocation.