The 3G30-Advanced, AZUR SPACE's latest qualified solar cell product, provides highest end-of-life efficiencies in space. The cell reaches 27.8% at a fluence of 5 E14 cm -2 and 26.5% at a fluence of 1 E15 cm -2 1 MeV electrons. The cell mass can be reduced to a minimum by substrate thinning, the cell cost can be reduced by implementation of large area configurations and even higher radiation hardness can be achieved by using AZUR's proprietary 3G30-1E16+ design. Various configurations are currently in production. The increasing demand for cells suited for LEO applications, made AZUR to develop a novel upright metamorphic triple junction solar cell with a BOL efficiency of 31% designed for a fluence of 1 E14 cm -2 1 MeV electrons. This cell design is already in production. AZUR's next generation product 4G32 comprises an upright metamorphic 4-junction device with 28.5% EOL (1 E15 cm -2 1 MeV electrons) efficiency. Hence, the 4G32 even surpasses the EOL efficiency of the lattice-matched 3-junction cell 3G30-Advanced. It utilizes the excess current of the Ge subcell by a metamorphic cell concept and a fourth junction added to the stack. This cell will be qualified by mid-2017. This paper summarizes the results and achievements for various 3G and 4G solar cell products from AZUR SPACE, including radiation hardness and cell formats.

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Four-junction solar cells are being developed for space applications as they promise higher efficiencies compared to the present GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triplejunction industry standard. There are multiple technological routes to achieve four-junction cells with the ideal bandgap combination of 1.9 eV, 1.4 eV 1.05 eV and 0.7 eV. This includes metamorphic growth concepts and direct semiconductor wafer bonded technology. All cell designs have their specific advantages and challenges. Therefore, at Fraunhofer ISE a plurality of different four-junction cell concepts is under investigation. The current status of the development and a discussion of so far achieved characteristics are presented in this work.

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