Radiation-Induced Defect Modeling and Performance Degradation in PERC Silicon Solar Cells Under Heavy Ion Irradiation

Abstract The effects of heavy ion irradiation on the electrical properties of passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) silicon solar cells are investigated. The study employs technology computer-aided design (TCAD)-based device simulations using a radiation effect module (REM), which integrates vacancy data from Monte Carlo code-based simulations with device simulations. Furthermore, the non-ionizing energy loss (NIEL) phenomenon is incorporated to understand the impact of radiation at various fluence levels and energies encountered in the space environment. The model is used to simulate the irradiation of solar cells with Oxygen (O), Argon (Ar), and Iron (Fe) ions. The solar cell design used in the simulations represents an actual device, with the average difference between simulated and experimental parameters being 0.67, 0.05, 0.03, and 0.19% for efficiency, fill factor, JSC, and VOC, respectively. The degradation caused by irradiation is primarily due to the loss of efficiency at different ion fluence levels and energies. It is observed that iron is the most detrimental to solar cell performance within the same projected range due to its higher NIEL value. This approach provides new opportunities to investigate novel radiation-tolerant solar cell structures by enabling the qualification of radiation hardness.