Electroluminescence analysis of injection-enhanced annealing of electron irradiation-induced defects in GaInP top cells for triple-junction solar cells

Direct injection-enhanced annealing of defects in a GaInP top cell for GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells irradiated with 1.8 MeV electrons with a fluence of 1 × 1015 cm−2 has been observed and analyzed using electroluminescence (EL) spectra. Minority-carrier injection under forward bias conditions is observed to enhance defect annealing in the GaInP top cell, and recovery of the EL intensity of the GaInP top cell was observed even at room temperature. Moreover, the injection-enhanced defect annealing rates obey a simple Arrhenius law; therefore, the annealing activation energy was determined and is equal to 0.51 eV. Lastly, the H2 defect has been identified as the primary non-radiative recombination center based on a comparison of the annealing activation energies.