Electron irradiation effects on ultra-thin silicon IBC solar cells of varying thickness: Analytical modelling and experimental demonstration of the critical design factors of silicon solar cells for space application

Electron irradiation effects on ultra-thin silicon IBC solar cells of varying thickness: Analytical modelling and experimental demonstration of the critical design factors of silicon solar cells for space application | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Electron irradiation effects on ultra-thin silicon IBC solar cells of varying thickness: Analytical modelling and experimental demonstration of the critical design factors of silicon solar cells for space application Zhenyu Sun, Li Wang, Zhuangyi Zhou, Xiaoxing Lou, Tetsuya Nakamura, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7571577/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 May, 2026 Read the published version in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In the “Space 2.0” era, space missions demand solar technologies that are lightweight, efficient, and cost-effective. Silicon (Si) solar cells offer a mature, low-cost solution, with back-contact (BC) architectures achieving the highest conversion efficiency among Si-based designs. However, typical terrestrial Si cells with thicknesses of 130–150 µm face limitations in radiation tolerance and mass, both critical for space applications. While thinner designs have demonstrated improved resilience, most studies remain qualitative and lack a quantitative framework—particularly for BC cells, for which the irradiation response remains largely unexplored. To address these gaps, this work investigates ultra-thin Si back-contacted (UTSBC) solar cells as a model system to establish a unified physical framework that quantifies the interplay between absorber thickness, junction location, carrier diffusion length, and surface recombination under electron irradiation. We further introduce the concept of a “critical thickness”—a threshold below which radiation-induced performance degradation is significantly suppressed—thereby linking microscopic degradation mechanisms to device-level design rules for radiation-hardened Si photovoltaics in future space applications. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Renewable energy/Solar energy/Photovoltaics/Solar cells Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for energy and catalysis/Solar cells Physical sciences/Engineering/Aerospace engineering Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Supplementalinformation.docx Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 May, 2026 Read the published version in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7571577","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":522627652,"identity":"b87ee3bd-4e2f-4b12-9f6c-08a6228066eb","order_by":0,"name":"Zhenyu 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Silicon (Si) solar cells offer a mature, low-cost solution, with back-contact (BC) architectures achieving the highest conversion efficiency among Si-based designs. However, typical terrestrial Si cells with thicknesses of 130\u0026ndash;150 \u0026micro;m face limitations in radiation tolerance and mass, both critical for space applications. While thinner designs have demonstrated improved resilience, most studies remain qualitative and lack a quantitative framework\u0026mdash;particularly for BC cells, for which the irradiation response remains largely unexplored. To address these gaps, this work investigates ultra-thin Si back-contacted (UTSBC) solar cells as a model system to establish a unified physical framework that quantifies the interplay between absorber thickness, junction location, carrier diffusion length, and surface recombination under electron irradiation. We further introduce the concept of a \u0026ldquo;critical thickness\u0026rdquo;\u0026mdash;a threshold below which radiation-induced performance degradation is significantly suppressed\u0026mdash;thereby linking microscopic degradation mechanisms to device-level design rules for radiation-hardened Si photovoltaics in future space applications.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Electron irradiation effects on ultra-thin silicon IBC solar cells of varying thickness: Analytical modelling and experimental demonstration of the critical design factors of silicon solar cells for space application","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-14 20:16:57","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7571577/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"044eab1b-a386-430d-a684-adc2e6787379","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 14th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":55548871,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Renewable energy/Solar energy/Photovoltaics/Solar cells"},{"id":55548872,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for energy and catalysis/Solar cells"},{"id":55548873,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering/Aerospace engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-18T14:27:06+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7571577","link":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2026.114428","journal":{"identity":"solar-energy-materials-and-solar-cells","isVorOnly":true,"title":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells"},"publishedOn":"2026-05-15 00:00:00","publishedOnDateReadable":"May 15th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-14 20:16:57","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2026.114428","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2026.114428","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7571577","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7571577","identity":"rs-7571577","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}