Thermal runaway in multijunction solar cells

A small fraction of GaInP2/GaAs/Ge triple junction solar cells exposed to the 6× concentrated air mass zero spectrum at 523 K for 5 min was found to be severely shunted afterwards. A combination of electroluminescence imaging and focused ion beam cross sectioning revealed that pre-existing top-middle cell shunts were responsible for the observed degradation. Joule heating in the shunt resistance limiting Ge substrate is modeled and exhibits a thermal runaway effect above a critical voltage, in agreement with the experimental observation. The implications for current and future multijunction cells are discussed.