Irradiation-induced degradation of amorphous silicon solar cells in space

Irradiation-induced degradation of amorphous silicon solar cells in space

Klaver, A.

Beenakker, C.I.M. (promotor)

Aerospace Engineering

2007-12-03

Solar cells are the prime power supply for satellites in space. Space is, however, a hostile environment for electronic devices, such as solar cells: in space the devices are subjected to large temperature cycles, atomic oxygen, space dust, meteorites, and high-energy charged-particle irradiation. In this thesis we present the development of a model with which the EOL-performance of hydrogenated amorphous silicon, solar cells can be predicted for a high-radiation space mission. For this development we have performed light-soaking, electron-beam, and proton-beam irradiation experiments on Hydrogenated amorphous silicon, layers and solar cells in order to study the degradation cell performance under these conditions. Furthermore, we present a procedure for the simulation of solar-cell performance degradation and this method has been applied to our measurement results to study some aspects of the degradation in more detail.

hydrogenated amorphous silicon
degradation
radiation
solar cells

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:33f5538b-280d-435f-87a3-6295f942d6b3

978-90-9022469-5

Institutional Repository

doctoral thesis

(c) 2007 A. Klaver