Investigation of radiation resistance of heterostructure silicon solar cells

The radiation resistance of different types of heterostructural silicon solar cells under irradiation with 1 MeV electrons in the fluence range 2.5 $\cdot$ 10$^{14}$–1 $\cdot$ 10$^{15}$ cm$^{-2}$ has been studied. Studies have shown that the smallest degradation of the “saturation” currents of the diffusion current flow mechanism from $J_{0d}\le$ 5 $\cdot$ 10$^{-13}$ A/сm$^2$ to $J_{0d}\le$ 3 $\cdot$ 10$^{-12}$ A/сm$^2$ and efficiency from 19.2 to 13.6% (AM0, 1367 W/m$^2$) were $n$–$\alpha$-Si:H/$c$–$p$(Ga)/$p$–$\alpha$-Si:H and $n$–$\mu c$-Si:H/$c$–$p$(Ga)/$p$–$\alpha$-Si:H. The results obtained make it possible to evaluate the prospects for the use of heterostructure silicon solar cells for low-orbit spacecraft.