Room-Temperature Annealing Effects on Radiation-Induced Defects in InP Crystals and Solar Cells

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Abstract
Remarkable defect annealing in both p-type and n-type InP following 1-MeV electron irradiation has been observed at room temperature, resulting in the recovery of InP solar cell properties. The room-temperature annealing characteristics of radiation-induced defects in InP were studied by measuring InP solar cell photovoltaic properties in conjunction with deep-level transient spectroscopy. The recovery of InP solar cell radiation damage is found to be due mainly to the room-temperature annihilation of radiation-induced recombination centers such as an H4 trap (Ev+0.37 eV) in p-InP. Moreover, the room-temperature annealing rate of radiation-induced defects in InP was found to be proportional to the 2/3 power of the carrier concentration. Additionally, a model has been considered in which point defects diffuse to sinks through impurities so as to annihilate and bind with impurities, thus forming point defect-impurity complexes.