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.