Studies of Degradation Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells by 1 MeV Electrons Irradiation

Abstract

This article attempts to assess the radiation resistance of heterostructure silicon solar cells to the effects of 1 MeV electrons and discusses their prospects for power supply of the global low-orbit satellite communication system. The data obtained from this study allow us to identify the most promising types of heterostructure silicon solar cells for use in low-orbit spacecraft. These are n-α-Si:H-(p)c-Si:Ga-p-α-Si:H and n-µc-Si:H-(p)c-Si:Ga-p-α-Si:H solar cells. The degradation in efficiency of these structures was less than 30% by 1 × 10¹⁵ cm^–2 fluence of 1 MeV electrons.