Reliability of MINP compared to UIS, SIS, and N/P silicon solar cells under 1. 0-MeV electron and environmental effects

Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1984 · IEEE Trans. Electron Devices; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/T-ED.1984.21578· OSTI ID:6155771

Thayer, M; Anderson, W A

The effects of 1.0-MeV electron radiation are compared for MIS, SIS, N/P, and MINP silicon solar cells. MIS, SIS, and N/P silicon solar cells are comparable in performance except that SIS cells degraded faster due to use of n-type Si substrates. MINP cells exhibited superior performance in that efficiency degraded 9 percent at a fluence of 1 X 10/sup 15/ e/sup -//cm/sup 2/ and 32 percent at a fluence of 1 X 10/sup 16/ e/sup -//cm/sup 2/ compared to 29 percent and 49 percent, respectively, for N/P cells. MINP cells utilize an SiO/sub 2/ insulator layer over a thin N-region, and a low work function metal contact. This design gives a high ultraviolet response and low surface recombination velocity which maintains high efficiency since most of the radiation loss occurs in the infrared region due to bulk damage effects.

• Research Organization: Department of Electrical Engineering, State Univ. of New York at Buffalo, Amherst, NY
• OSTI ID: 6155771
• Journal Information: IEEE Trans. Electron Devices; (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Trans. Electron Devices; (United States) Vol. ED-31:5; ISSN IETDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
EQUIPMENT
FERMIONS
JUNCTIONS
LEPTONS
LIFETIME
MEV RANGE
MEV RANGE 01-10
MI SOLAR CELLS
MIS SOLAR CELLS
P-N JUNCTIONS
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION EFFECTS
RECOMBINATION
RELIABILITY
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPECTRAL RESPONSE