On the Impact of Protons on Triple-Junction Solar Cells
Ab initio electronic stopping power for protons in Ga$_{0.5}$In$_{0.5}$P/GaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells for space applications
Firstly, the results of particle transport simulations are presented for proton impact on triple-junction solar cells, showing the proton projectile penetration in the cells as a function of energy.It is followed by a systematic investigation of the electronic stopping power for protons in different layers of the cell at the relevant velocities via real-time time-dependent density functional theory (rt-tddft) calculations.The electronic stopping power is found to depend significantly on different channeling conditions, which should affect the low velocity damagepredictions, and which are understood in terms of impact parameter and electrondensity along the path.Additionally, we explore the effect of the interfacebetween the layers of the multilayer structure on the energy loss of a proton, along with the effect of strain in the lattice-matched solar cell.Both effects are found to be small compared with the main bulk effect.
