Review of the GaAs solar cell Italian national programme

This paper reviews the activities performed by CISE and Fiar in the last 6 years under the aegis of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), in establishing a reliable and qualified technology for GaAs space solar cells and modules. The aim of this industrial initiative is to produce advanced space solar cells for the future National satellites and to create a European capability, nowadays lacking in this field, in order to counter-balance similar enterprises already performed in the U.S.A., Japan and the U.S.S.R. This paper gives also detals concerning some recent technological achievements: 4 × 4 cm2, 18.4% AMO LPE solar cells, 2 × 2 and 2 × 4 cm2 MOVPE solar cells 21% AMO efficient assembling of GaAs flight panels for in-orbit demonstration programmes.