Electron and proton irradiation effects on substrate-type amorphous silicon solar cells

Sato, Shinichiro; Sai, Hitoshi*; Oshima, Takeshi; Imaizumi, Mitsuru*; Shimazaki, Kazunori*; Kondo, Michio*

Radiation degradation behavior of electrical properties of single junction hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells is investigated in this study. The samples were irradiated with 1 MeV electrons and 10 MeV protons, and their current-voltage characteristics were measured in-situ in the irradiation chamber. As a result, superior radiation tolerance of a-Si:H solar cell compared to crystalline silicon space solar cell was demonstrated. Besides, it was clearly shown that radiation degradation of all the cell parameters; short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage and fill factor were substantially suppressed by elevated temperature during irradiation. The thermal recovery after the irradiation was also observed even at room temperature.