Performance of high-temperature survivable gallium arsenide concentrator cells

A report is presented on the fabrication and testing of survivable GaAs/AlGaAs double-heterostructure concentrator cells intended for space operation. Air mass zero (AMO) efficiencies of over 22% at 25 suns have been obtained. These cells are designed to survive thermal excursions to temperatures exceeding 600 degrees C without significant change in efficiency. It is found that the change in conversion efficiency is less than 10%, even after 1 h at 650 degrees C, and that the decrease in efficiency is only about 10% after 25 min at 700 degrees C. The cells continue to function after enduring 820 degrees C for 25 min. Details of the testing are reported.<
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