A study on swift (∼100 MeV) heavy (Si8+) ion irradiated crystalline Si-solar cell

A study on irradiation (of ∼100 MeV, Si-ion) induced degradation effects of crystalline silicon solar cells has been carried out. The cell characteristics show that the cell efficiency decreases to ∼30% (of its pre-irradiated value) after the irradiation (of swift heavy ions of, 1012 or 1013 or 1014 ions cm−2 fluences). The reduced efficiency of the irradiated solar cells is recovered back (nearly half of the pre-irradiated efficiency) after annealing at 300 °C. The IR spectroscopic studies on the irradiated and annealed solar cells show the presence of di-vacancy and their complexes with impurities like hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. The swift heavy ion irradiation damage in solar cells causing a heavy loss of the cell efficiency has been attributed to these electrically active complexes which shall cause the carrier removal/compensation phenomena for the observed decrease of the cell efficiency. These complexes dissociate on annealing to change their role as donors/acceptors to cause the observed recovery of the cell efficiency on annealing.