Degradation characteristics and equivalent analysis of InGaAsP space solar cells under proton and neutron irradiation

The effects of 2 MeV, 30 MeV proton and neutron irradiation on the performance of InGaAsP single junction solar cells were investigated. The degradation of electrical and optical properties was studied by experiment, such as IV curve, external quantum efficiency, photoluminescence (PL) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results show that the performance parameters of the solar cell degrade seriously with the increasing of the displacement damage dose. The PL results indicate that irradiation has a destructive effect on the photoelectric properties of materials. The carrier parameters were quantitatively calculated according to the PL normalized peak. The minority carrier lifetime attenuation model and equivalent displacement damage model were established to evaluate the on-orbit behavior of the InGaAsP solar cell.