Annealing kinetics of electron-irradiated GaAs heteroface solar cells in the range 175–200 °C

Abstract

Annealing of electron-irradiation damage in GaAs solar cells is important for space applications. This paper describes studies conducted to understand this annealing process. GaAs heteroface solar cells were irradiated with 1×1015 1-MeV electrons/cm2 followed by thermal annealing. An activation energy for annealing of 1.25±0.14 eV and a frequency factor of (3.7±1.9) ×109 sec−1 were determined. A small component of the irradiation damage, which does not anneal measurably at 200 °C, was observed.