Modification of radiation hardness of silicon p-n junction photodiodes by hydrogen plasma treatment

The influence of treatment by a low energy hydrogen ions on degradation of the spectral response, diffusion length of minority carriers (LD) and efficiency (η) of silicon p-n junction photodiodes (solar cells without antireflective coatings) under the effect of electron irradiation has been investigated. Evaluation of the radiation hardness was made by subjecting the unhydrogenated and hydrogenated photodiodes to 1 MeV electron irradiation with doses of (0.1÷3) × 1015 cm−2. The measurements have shown that pre-hydrogenation of the silicon p-n junction devices significantly decreases the degradation rate of LD and η thereby improving their radiation hardness. C 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc