Heterojunction A1GaAs-GaAs solar cells for space applications

Two types of solar cell AlGaAs-GaAs structures which are heteroface and triple heterojunction are investigated in this study. A complete theoretical study including optimisation for the optical properties ( transmission and reflection) of the heteroface Alo.sGao.2As- GaAs space solar cell is presented. The grid shadow and window layer effects, angle of incidence and the effects of the layer design parameters for AR-coating and window layer on the optical properties are considered in the calculations. A new structure for space solar cell which consists of double heterojunction AlGaAs­GaAs structure with GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction back surface field (triple heterojunction(TIIJ))-to enhance the performance of the existed double heterojunction solar cell- is proposed. The analytical model for this TIU cell is presented as a function of all the cell's design parameters ( such as _layers doping, thicknesses, etc). The calculated results for this structure is compared with the experimental results for the previous double heterojunction structure. The effects of the design parameters of all layers including the AR-coating on the cell's output performance and the optimisation conditions are studied as well. The techniques of the light trapping and the photon recycling( which are gocxl for space solar cells) are applied for the THJ thin film AlGaAs-GaAs structure to improve further the efficiency . The change of the optimisation conditions due to the usage of these two techniques is also discussed