Impact of proton-induced transmutation doping in semiconductors for space applications

Abstract

Proton irradiation typical of detector lifetime in orbit does not change semiconductor chemistry sufficiently through transmutation to alter device performance.

Radiation resistant chalcopyrite CIGS solar cells: proton damage shielding with Cs treatment and defect healing via heat-light soaking

“…A proton fluence of 1 × 10 12 cm −2 at 380 keV is estimated to be required to capture proton particles in the low Earth orbit (LEO) for over 300 years; similarly, it is estimated to be over 90 000 years for a fluence of 3 × 10 14 cm −2 based on the associated proton spectrum from the calculation. 30,31 Since the solar cells on satellites operating in the LEO may be exposed to direct sunlight, the temperature could reach 120 to 160 °C. This setup of heat-light soaking (HLS), involving illumination of the samples under 1 sun AM 1.5 and annealing at 140 °C for a duration of 30 minutes, aims to simulate the conditions experienced by satellites operating in the LEO.…”

Potential for neutron and proton transmutation doping of GaN and Ga2O3

“…51 This code computes charged-particle and neutron transmutation and activation using published natural abundances, cross-sections, and decay data, and has previously been validated for semiconductor transmutation applications by comparison to experiments and GEANT4 simulations. 52 FISPACT employs the most up-to-date published nuclear data from the TENDL-2017, HEIR-0.1, ENDF/B.VIII.0, JEFF-3.3, JENDL-4.0, and CENDL-3.1 international libraries. 51 Specifically for this application, the FISPACT 2017 TENDL database is used for proton (gxs-162) and neutron (gxs-709) nuclear reaction cross-sections, the UKAEDD-12 decay library is used for decay data, and the UKFY-4.1 library (as obtained from JEFF-3.1.1 decay data) is used for fission yields.…”

“…This trend of increasing p-type doping with increasing proton energy occurs because the probabilities of proton interactions generally peak at 10x MeV where x is the number of neutrons emitted from the unstable nucleus through the (p, xn) reaction. 52 Because of this, higher energy protons will be more likely to form a nucleus with a proton to neutron ratio that is too high to be stable. This will result in subsequent b + decay, which converts protons to neutrons and produces lower atomic number elements.…”

Orbital Equivalence of Terrestrial Radiation Tolerance Experiments

“…All tables are obtained to cover the entire SPENVIS orbital spectral range. The damage produced through inelastic nuclear reactions is negligible in comparison to that caused by displacement damage, as indicated by the NIEL [48]. As discussed in Section I, electronic and nuclear energy loss are important in producing damage in different applications.…”