Proton irradiation of CdTe thin film photovoltaics deposited on cerium-doped space glass

Dan A. Lamb, Craig I. Underwood, Vincent Barrioz, Russell Gwilliam, James Hall, Mark A. Baker, Stuart J.C. Irvine

Index: 10.1002/pip.2923

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Abstract

The effects of proton irradiation of CdTe solar cells deposited directly onto radiation hard cover glass were investigated using 0.5-MeV proton energy and different dose rates the cells were subjected. At the lowest fluence, 1 × 1012 cm−2, the relative efficiency of the solar cells was 95%. Increasing the proton dose to 1 × 1013 cm−2 and then 1 × 1014 cm−2 decreased the solar cell efficiency to 82% and 4%, respectively. The degradation in performance was shown to be partially reversible. The CdTe solar cells demonstrated a radiation hardness (to protons) that is far superior to conventional multi-junction III-V solar cells used for space.