Revealing the underlying radiation degradation of quantum well solar cells via dynamic bandwidth analysis
Abstract
We propose a dynamic bandwidth characterization strategy to investigate the radiation degradation mechanisms in GaAs quantum well solar cells. Contrary to conventional assumptions that enhanced electric fields restore post-irradiation carrier collection, our high-frequency measurements reveal a significant increase in carrier escape time under reverse bias. This arises from an underlying competing carrier transport mechanism: the radiation-induced carrier removal effect broadens the depletion region, requiring photogenerated carriers to transit a wider region containing a high density of interfacial defects. The resulting increase in capture probability effectively offsets the field-enhanced carrier extraction. These dynamic insights reveal the physical mechanism responsible for the fill factor (FF) degradation and offer critical structural design guidelines for next-generation radiation-hardened space photovoltaics.
Article Details
Journal Info
Applied Physics Letters
American Institute of Physics
Authors (13)
Menglu Yu
School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China 1 , Hefei 230026,
Haowen Hua
School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China 1 , Hefei 230026,
Qiangjian Sun
Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Display Materials and Chips, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2 , Suzhou 215123,
Xiaoxu Wu
School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China 1 , Hefei 230026,
Zhitao Chen
School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China 1 , Hefei 230026,
Qing Gong
Wenhao Miao
Hydrogen Energy Industry Institute of Jilin Province, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry
Zhenlong Wu
Engineering Research Center for Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education, Xiamen University 3 , Xiamen 361005,
Jianjun Zhu
Lian Ji
Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Display Materials and Chips, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2 , Suzhou 215123,
Min Zhou
Shulong Lu
Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Display Materials and Chips, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences 2 , Suzhou 215123,
Junhua Long
School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China 1 , Hefei 230026,