Mechanism for the anomalous degradation of Si solar cells induced by high-energy proton irradiation

High-energy and high-fluence proton irradiation of Si space solar cells has provoked an anomalous increase in short-circuit current, followed by its abrupt decrease and cell failure. A model is proposed which explains the phenomena by expressing a reduction in the carrier concentration of the base region, in addition to a decrease of minority-carrier diffusion length. The reduction in carrier concentration due to majority-carrier trapping by radiation-induced defects has the effect of (1) broadening the depletion region width and (2) increasing the resistivity of the base layer. The anomalous change in the quantum efficiency of the cells under high-fluence (similar to 10(14) cm(-2)) irradiation is also explained by considering the generation of a donor-type defect level with the irradiation.