High and Low Energy Proton Radiation Damage in p/n InP MOCVD Solar Cells

InP p(+)/n/n(+) solar cells, fabricated by metal organic chemical vapor deposition, (MOCVD) were irradiated with 0.2 MeV and 10 MeV protons to a fluence of 10(exp 13)/sq cm. The power output degradation, IV 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 with 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 cells. 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 spectroscopy (DLTS) study of the irradiated samples, the minority carrier defects H4 and H5 at E(sub v) + 0.33 and E(sub v) + 0.52 eV and the majority carrier defects E7 and El0 at E(sub c) - 0.39 and E(sub c) - 0.74 eV, were observed. The defect introduction rates for the 0.2 MeV proton irradiations were about 20 times higher than for the 10 MeV proton irradiations. The defect El0, 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.