Influence of α particle radiation on the structural and electronic properties of thin film GaAs solar cells: A simulation study

Electronic and optoelectronic devices designed for high level of charged particle radiation environments, such as artificial satellites, spacecraft, stations of nuclear energy and nuclear arms, have special design challenges to prevent damage mechanisms in these devices. Ionizing radiation can lead to failure in semiconductor electronic devices. Due to the energy equipment from solar cells in mostly artificial satellites in space, these damages can degrade solar cell electrical properties and this could directly affect the durability and lifetime of the spacecraft in orbit. In this paper, a numerical simulation study on the influence of the high energy charged alpha (α) radiation on the performance of the nano-structured thin film GaAs solar cell has investigated. From the simulation analysis, it was found that α radiation ionizes the deep levels of the cell and most part of the total ion distribution (including different atoms in cell layers) was in the range of 1 MeV α particles stopping range. This information is fundamentally important in interpreting and understanding the nature of bonding in the semiconductor solid state materials under irradiation. Hence these parameters are needed in determining design criteria in order to avoid in-service failure of electronic components. The radiation hardness is parameters which are required to fully describe the electronic property of the semiconductor electronic device. Simulation results show that major part of the cell damage occurred in the metal back contact with 100 nm thickness. All simulation were done by SRIM 2013 software package.