Effect of radiation-induced defects on silicon solar cells

Recent experiments indicated an anomalous degradation of n⁺ -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, -0.17, E_c, -0.1, E_c -0.43, and E_v +0.36 eV on solar cells is studied in this article. It is shown that among these defects only the defect with energy level E_c -0.1 eV causes the anomalous degradation, when the base thickness W is approximately 250 μm.