Dilute nitride semiconductors have promise for next generation multi-junction solar cells (mjsc). This potential lays in the fact that this alloy can be lattice matched to gaas and tuned to the…

This federal contract award, valued at $747,341.30, was issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of Oklahoma, a state-controlled institution of higher learning. The contract aims to investigate the potential and suitability of hydrogenated GaInNAs solar cells for flexible multi-junction solar cells (MJSC) intended for space applications. The research will focus on understanding the nature and stability of the hydrogen-nitrogen bond when subjected to thermal cycling, accelerated lifetime measurements, and high-energy irradiation. This work builds upon the university's previous research demonstrating the ability to passivate deleterious nitrogen-related defects in dilute nitride semiconductors, which can improve solar cell performance. The contract has no set-aside designation and is structured as a cooperative agreement. The University of Oklahoma, through its Office of Research Administration, is the prime contractor for this project, which aligns with NASA's broader efforts to develop high-efficiency solar cell technologies for space applications, including CubeSat missions.

Dilute nitride semiconductors have promise for next generation multi-junction solar cells (mjsc). This potential lays in the fact that this alloy can be lattice matched to gaas and tuned to the important 1 EV absorption window. Despite this potential, several serious materials issues remain unresolved. These issues center on the low solubility of nitrogen in the system, and the formation of larger nitrogen related defect centers. Recently we have shown that deleterious nitrogen-nitrogen clusters and donor impurities localized to isoelectronic centers can be selectively passivated using a UV-activated hydrogenation process, significantly improving the solar cell performance. Here IT is proposed to investigate the potential of leveraging these important results to develop next generation mjscs incorporating these materials. High performance solar cells are attractive for space applications since they offer the potential for high power generation at lower payloads. These PV systems are also excellent candidates for cubesat applications in which high power, light, low payload systems are desirable. IT is proposed to investigate the potential and suitability of hydrogenated gainnas cells for flexible mjscs via a rigorous investigation of the nature and stability of the h-n bond when subjected to thermal cycling and accelerated lifetime measurements, and under high-energy irradiation.