Influence of radiation defects induced by low-energy protons at a temperature of 83 K on the characteristics of silicon photoelectric structures

Irradiation with low-energy protons leads to a change in the electrophysical, optical, and other properties of the surface region of semiconductor structures, which creates additional possibilities for modifying semiconductor devices. The work is devoted to the study of the effect of radiation defects created by low-energy protons at a sample temperature of 83 K on the properties of two-sided silicon photovoltaic structures with a diffusion $n^+$–$p$ junction. Samples of $n^+$–$p$–$p^+$ type were irradiated with a flux of protons with an energy of 40 keV or 180 keV and a dose of 1015 cm$^{-2}$. To explain the observed regularities in the variation of the parameters of the current-voltage characteristics and the transmission coefficients, the distribution of the average number of interstitial silicon, vacancies, divacancies, and disordering regions created under these conditions on the unit projective path length by one proton in the diffusion layer and the space charge region of the $n^+$–$p$ junction was calculated. It is shown that protons with an initial energy of 40 keV predominantly change the physical properties of a layer with a high concentration of donors, and protons with an initial energy of 180 keV are properties of the space-charge region in a layer containing acceptors. The number of radiation defects in the maximum spatial distribution in the $n$-region is much smaller than in the $p$-region.