A series of accelerated high-temperature soak tests has been performed on GaAs/Ge solar cells with standard front contacts in order to determine their ability to operate on space missions that require the solar array to operate at temperatures up to 250 degrees C for long periods of time. Four soak tests were performed: one at 300 degrees C for 1000 h, one at 300 degrees C for 500 h, and two at temperatures up to 370 degrees C for up to 260 h. The tests used GaAs/Ge solar cells with etch-through front contacts and GaAs/Ge solar cells with a GaAs cap front contact structure. The solar cells in the 300 degrees C soak tests showed no significant degradation. In the other tests, the solar cells showed severe degradation in open-circuit voltage, and maximum power. Results of these tests show that these solar cells should be able to operate in temperatures up to 180 degrees C for long periods of time (eight years). If the solar cells are required to operate above 180 degrees C for long periods of time, new contact systems must be developed.


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    Title :

    Stability of GaAs/Ge solar cells with standard front contacts after long-term, high-temperature exposure


    Additional title:

    Stabilität von GaAs/Ge-Solarzellen mit Standard-Frontkontakten nach langandauerndem Hochtemperatureinfluß


    Contributors:
    Gasner, S. (author) / Pack, G. (author) / Gates, M. (author) / Given, R. (author)


    Publication date :

    1990


    Size :

    6 Seiten, 7 Quellen


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English