Degradation Behavior of Flexible a-Si/a-SiGe/a-SiGe Triple-Junction Solar Cells Irradiated With Protons

Author

Sato, Shin-ichiro ; Beernink, Kevin ; Ohshima, T.

Author_Institution

Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Takasaki, Japan

Volume

3

Issue

4

fYear

2013

fDate

Oct. 2013

Firstpage

1415

Lastpage

1422

Abstract

Electrical performance degradation of a-Si/a-SiGe/a-SiGe triple-junction solar cells due to irradiation of protons with different energies and their performance recovery at room temperature (RT) just after irradiation are reported. The current-voltage characteristics are measured in situ, and the results show that all the parameters recover with time after proton irradiation is stopped. The degradation is scaled by a unit of displacement damage dose independent of proton energy, indicating that the proton-induced degradation is mainly caused by the displacement damage effects. By analyzing the quantum efficiency variations due to irradiation, it is clarified that the top subcell recovers more markedly at RT than the other subcells, and the recovery of the middle cell is less pronounced.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; elemental semiconductors; proton effects; semiconductor junctions; silicon; solar cells; Si-SiGe; current-voltage characteristics; degradation behavior; displacement damage dose; displacement damage effects; electrical performance degradation; flexible a-Si/a-SiGe/a-SiGe triple-junction solar cells; middle cell recovery; performance recovery; proton energy; proton irradiation; proton-induced degradation; quantum efficiency variations; top subcell; Amorphous semiconductors; Annealing; Degradation; Ion radiation effects; Photovoltaic cells; Proton effects; Radiation hardening (electronics); Amorphous semiconductors; ion radiation effects; photovoltaic cells; proton effects; radiation hardening;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-3381

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2271672

Filename

6558813