Abstract
The variation of minority carrier lifetime in c-Si solar cells due to the irradiation of 8 MeV electrons of various doses ranging from 5 to 100 kGy was studied. The minority carrier lifetime and diffusion length of c-Si solar cells were determined before and after irradiation using the reverse recovery transient (RRT) method. The minority carrier lifetime is found to decrease with increasing electron dose, which is interpreted as due to the creation of non-radiative recombination centers which affects the diffusion current. The minority carrier diffusion length decreases exponentially with electron dose. The reduction in diffusion length due to electron irradiation will reduce the conversion efficiency of solar cells.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
W.C. Cooley and R.J. Janda, Hand book of space radiation effects on solar cell power systems. NASA/N63-20315 (1963).
M.Z. Rahman, International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, 2(1), 117-122 (2012).
J. A. Giesecke, B. Michl, F.Schindler, M. C. Schubert and W. Warta, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells. 95(7) 1979–1982 (2011).
S. Daliento, L. Mele, L. Lancelotti, P. Morvillo, E. Bobeico, F. Roca, L. Pirozzi, Performances characterization of concentration solar cells by means of I-V and lifetime measurements made with the QSSPC technique, 21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (2006).
D.K. Schroder, Semiconductor Materials and Device Characterization, John Wiley, New York, (1990) pp.394.
B.G. Streetman and S. Banerjee, Solid State Electronics, fifth ed., Prentice Hall of India, (2000).
Satya Saripalli, Transport Properties in Nanocrystalline Silicon and Silicon Germanium, PhD thesis, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (2008).
B. Lax and S.F. Neustadter, J. Appl. Phys. 25, 1148-1154 (1954). [9] M. Ferrara, Electroluminescence of a-Si/c-Si Heterojunction Solar Cells after High Energy Irradiation. PhD Thesis, Hagen (2009).
A. Hallen, N. Keskitalo, F. Masszi, V. Nagl, J. Appl. Phys. 79, 3906–3914 (1996).
H. Y. Tada and J. R. Carter, Solar Cell Radiation Handbook. NASA/N78-1556.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Staff and Research Scholars of Microtron Centre, Mangalore University, for their help during irradiation. The authors gratefully acknowledge DAE-BRNS, for the financial assistance. The authors thank ISRO satellite centre, Bangalore for providing the solar cells. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support and encouragement given by the Management of Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering, Moodbidri.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
P, S.B., Rao, A., Krishnan, S., Sanjeev, G., Puthanveettil, S.E. (2014). Measurement of Variation of Minority Carrier Lifetime in 8 MeV Electron Irradiated c-Si Solar Cells Using RRT Method. In: Jain, V., Verma, A. (eds) Physics of Semiconductor Devices. Environmental Science and Engineering(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03002-9_93
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03002-9_93
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-03001-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-03002-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)