Abstract
Space photovoltaics is dominated by multi-junction (III-V) technology. However, emerging applications will require solar arrays with; high specific power (kW/kg), flexibility in stowage and deployment and a significantly lower cost than the current III-V technology offers. This research demonstrates direct deposition of thin film CdTe onto the radiation-hard cover glass that is normally laminated to any solar cell deployed in space. Four CdTe samples, with 9 defined contact device areas of 0.25 cm2, were irradiated with protons of 0.5 MeV energy and varying fluences. At the lowest fluence, 1×1012 cm-2, the relative efficiency of the solar cells was 95%. Increasing the proton fluence to 1×1013 cm-2 and then 1×1014 cm-2 decreased the solar cell efficiency to 82% and 4% respectively. At the fluence of 1×1013 cm-2, carrier concentration was reduced by an order of magnitude. Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS) modelling obtained a good fit from a reduction in shallow acceptor concentration with no change in the deep trap defect concentration. The more highly irradiated devices resulted in a buried junction characteristic of the external quantum efficiency, indicating further deterioration of the acceptor doping. This is explained by compensation from interstitial H+ formed by the proton absorption. An anneal of the 1×1014 cm-2 fluence devices gave an efficiency increase from 4% to 73% of the pre-irradiated levels, indicating that the compensation was reversible. CdTe with its rapid recovery through annealing, demonstrates a radiation hardness to protons that is far superior to conventional multi-junction III-V solar cells.