Defect generation in polycrystalline Cu(In, Ga)Se2 by high-energy electron irradiation

We investigate the degradation of ZnO/CdS/Cu(In, Ga)Se2 heterojunction solar cells for space applications and the defect generation in polycrystalline Cu(In, Ga)Se2 thin films by irradiation with 1-MeV electrons with fluences φe up to φe = 5 × 1018 cm-2. Notable degradation of the solar cell performance starts at fluences of φe = 1017 cm-2 where the open circuit voltage decreases by about 5% while short circuit current and fill factor remain essentially unaffected. Thus, Cu(In, Ga)Se2 solar cells withstand electron fluences which are higher by one order of magnitude or more when compared to other technologies. A model describes the absolute open circuit voltage loss considering the increase of space charge recombination by electron irradiation-induced defects. Defect analysis by admittance spectroscopy shows that acceptor defects with an energy distance of approximately 300 meV from the valence band are generated at a rate γ = 0.017 (±0.01) cm-1.