Development of an In-situ Radiation Testing System for Semiconductor Materials and Space Solar Cells

This study presents in-situ characterization tools developed at the University of North Texas Ion Beam Laboratory to evaluate radiation tolerance and elemental migration in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and other semiconductor devices. The in-situ dark current density-voltage (JV) setup enables real-time performance monitoring during irradiation with the ion beams in a vacuum atmosphere. Different ion beam techniques including ion beam induced charge (IBIC) collection and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) are utilized to study charge collection efficiency and elemental migration across the layers and grain boundaries, respectively. Initial in-situ dark JV results demonstrate that low-energy (< 70 keV) proton irradiation significantly increases dark current in PSCs, indicating gradual damage to the absorber layer. Also, IBIC measurements with 1 MeV energetic He+ ions revealed the effect of He+ irradiation on InGaAs PIN diodes. The results indicated reduction in charge collection efficiency from 100% to 92% with a fluence of 1.9×109 He+/cm2. These findings highlight the potential of in-situ methodologies to provide insights into the radiation tolerance of PSCs and other semiconductor devices, paving the way for more robust space applications.