Photocarrier Radiometry for Noncontact Evaluation of Monocrystalline Silicon (c-Si) Solar Cell Irradiated by 1 MeV Electron Beams

Abstract

In this paper, the monocrystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell irradiated by 1 MeV electron beams was investigated using noncontact photocarrier radiometry (PCR). A theoretical 1D two-layer PCR model including the impedance effect of the p-n junction was used to characterize the transport properties (carrier lifetime, diffusion coefficient, and surface recombination velocities) of c-Si solar cells irradiated by 1 MeV electron beams with different fluences. The carrier transport parameters were derived by the best fit through PCR measurements. Furthermore, an \(E_{\mathrm{v}}+0.56\) eV trap was introduced into the band gap based on the minority carrier lifetime reduction. An I–V characteristic was obtained by both AFORS-HET simulation and experimental study, and the simulation results shows in good agreement with the experimental results. Moreover, the simulation and experiment results also indicate that the increase of fluences of electron beams results in the reduction of short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage.