Effect of radiation-induced defects on silicon solar cells

Recent experiments indicated an anomalous degradation of $n^{+}{\mathrm{–p–p}}^{+}$ silicon space solar cells irradiated with high-energy protons or electrons. Several models have been proposed, which assumes that radiation-induced defects are responsible for the degradation. The effect of the radiation-induced deep defects with energy levels $E_c\text{−0.17,}$ $E_c\text{−0.1,}$ $E_c\text{−0.43,}$ and $E_v\text{+0.36\hspace{0.05em}}\mathrm{eV}$ on solar cells is studied in this article. It is shown that among these defects only the defect with energy level $E_c\text{−0.1\hspace{0.05em}}\mathrm{eV}$ causes the anomalous degradation, when the base thickness W is approximately 250 μm.