Radiation hardness of cadmium telluride solar cells in proton therapy beam mode.

Abstract

We evaluated the durability of cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells upon proton beam irradiation as well as the possibility of achieving a dosimeter usable in proton beam therapy by applying 100 MeV of pencil beam scanning (PBS) irradiation. Specifically, a 100 MeV proton PBS beam was applied at irradiation doses of 0, 1012, 1013, 1014, and 1015 cm-2. According to the results, the remaining factors (defined as the ratio of the degraded value to the initial value) of open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Jsc), fill-factor (FF), and efficiency (ƞ) which are solar cell performance parameters, were approximately 89%, 44%, 69%, and 30%, respectively, compared to those of the reference cell (without irradiation) at the highest dose of 1×1015 cm-2. In particular, the conversion efficiency, which is the main factor, was approximately 70% of that of the reference cell even at a high fluence of 1×1014 cm-2. In addition, we observed the projected range of the hydrogen atoms based on the PBS beam energy using the Tool for Particle Simulation software and assessed the amount of fluence accumulated in a CdTe cell. As the energy increased, the fluence accumulated inside the cell tended to decrease owing to the characteristics of the Bragg peak of the proton. Thus, the radiation damage to the cell induced by the proton beam was reduced. The results of this study are expected to provide valuable reference information for research on dosimetry sensors composed of thin-film solar cells, serving as the basis for future application in proton beam therapy with CdTe solar cells.