Radiation hardening of InP solar cells for space applications

The aim of this work is to develop a radiation resistant thin InP-based solar cells for space applications on more mechanically resistant, lighter, and cheaper substrates. In this paper, we present the development of a p+/nn+ InP-based solar cell structures with very thin emitter and base layers. A thin emitter helps to increase the collection of carriers generated by high energy incident photons from the solar spectrum. The use of a thin n base structure should improve the radiation resistance of this already radiation resistant technology. A remarkable improvement of high energy photons response is shown for InP solar cells with emitters 400 A thick