Effects of thermal annealing on the deep-level defects and I-V characteristics of 200 keV proton irradiated AlGaAs-GaAs solar cells

Detailed characterization of deep-level defects and analysis of dark I-V data in 200 keV proton irradiated AlGaAs-GaAs solar cells have been carried out for several proton fluences (5 x 10 to the 11th, 10 to the 12th, and 10 to the 13th P/sq cm), using DLTS, C-V, and I-V measurement techniques. To study the effect of low temperature thermal annealing on the deep-level defect properties, these irradiated samples were annealed in vacuum at 300 C for one hour. Comparison was then made on the measured defect parameters (i.e., defect energy levels and densities) and the dark I-V characteristics for both the annealed and unannealed samples.