High and low-energy proton radiation damage in p/n InP MOCVD solar cells

Abstract

Indium phosphide p+/n/n+ solar cells, fabricated by metal organic chemical vapor deposition, were irradiated with 0.2-MeV and 10-MeV protons to a fluence of 1013 cm−2. The power output degradation, 1-V behavior, carrier concentration and defect concentration were observed at intermediate points throughout the irradiations. The 0.2-MeV proton-irradiated solar cells suffered much greater and more rapid degradation in power output than those irradiated wit h 10 MeV protons. The efficiency losses were accompanied by larger increases in the recombination currents in the 0.2-MeV proton-irradiated solar cells. The low-energy proton irradiations also had a larger impact on the series resistance of the solar cell s. Despite the radiation-induced damage, the carrier concentration in the base of the solar cells showed no reduction after 10-MeV or 0.2-MeV proton irradiations and even increased during irradiation with 0.2-MeV protons. In a deep-level transient spectro scopy study of the irradiated samples, the minority carrier defects H4 and H5 at Ev + 0.33 and Ev + 0.52 eV and the majority carrier defects E7 and E10 at Ec − 0.39 and Ec − 0.74 eV were observed. Th e defect introduction rates for the 0.2-MeV proton irradiations were about 20 times higher than for the 10-MeV proton irradiations. The defect E10, observed here after irradiation, has been shown to act as a donor in irradiated n-type InP and may be responsible for obscuring carrier removal. The results of this study are consistent with the much greater damage produced by low-energy protons whose limited range causes them to stop in the active region of the solar cell. © This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America