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Results for “Radiation damage”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1980

Periodic annealing of radiation damage in GaAs solar cells

Continuous annealing of GaAs solar cells is compared with periodic annealing to determine their relative effectiveness in minimizing proton radiation damage. It is concluded that continuous annealing of the cells in space at 150 C can effectively reduce the proton radiation damage to the GaAs solar cells. Periodic annealing is most effective if it can be initiated at relatively low fluences (approximating continuous annealing), especially if low temperatures of less than 200 C are to be used. If annealing is started only after the fluence of the damaging protons has accumulated to a high value 10 to the 11th power sq/pcm), effective annealing is still possible at relatively high temperatures. Finally, since electron radiation damage anneals even more easily than proton radiation damage, substantial improvements in GaAs solar cell life can be achieved by incorporating the proper annealing capabilities in solar panels for practical space missions where both electron and proton radiation damage have to be minimized.

Loo, R. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Radiation damage in high-resistivity silicon solar cells

High-resistivity silicon solar cells exhibit reduced radiation damage when light is incident on the gridded back surface. Under back illumination, radiation damage decreases as cell resistivity increases; under front illumination, radiation damage increases as cell resistivity increases. Thin back-illuminated cells outperform conventional 10 omega cm 50 and 200 micron cells at low 1-MeV electron fluences. However, at higher fluences, the conventional cells exhibit superior radiation resistance. This is attributed to the low BOL diffusion lengths observed in the thin, sack-illuminated cell. These results are discussed in terms of injected charge distributions, electric fields in the cell base, and the effects of a dominant boron-oxygen defect.

Weinberg, I.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Sensitivity Study of Impact Risk Model Results to Thermal Radiation Damage Model for Large Objects

NASA’s Probabilistic Asteroid Impact Risk (PAIR) assessment model assesses the likelihood of potential damage for asteroid impact scenarios. Fast-running models are used to capture the effects of different hazards. This paper looks specifically at local ground damage hazards, including blast overpressure and thermal radiation damage, for large object impact scenarios. A sensitivity study is conducted to determine which parameters, and over what ranges, cause impact risks to become sensitive to thermal damage. Two additional thermal models with different approaches are used for comparison. The study determined the current thermal model is most sensitive to the luminous efficiency parameter that reflects the model’s uncertainty in the amount of energy contributing to the thermal radiation damage. This sensitivity was most apparent for the highest severity damage levels. Comparisons of the three models showed that in addition to sensitivities within the models, the impact risks are also sensitive to the choice of thermal model. The study results were applied to the 2023 PDC hypothetical asteroid impact scenario and parameter ranges of interest determined. At the serious damage level, luminous efficiencies above 0.006 showed a small chance of thermal playing an important role, while luminous efficiencies above 0.0008 led to thermal playing a significant role at the unsurvivable damage severity level. Study results are used to identify key areas where additional model refinement and better knowledge of asteroid properties may be important for improving damage estimates.

SMD↗
NASA NTRS2024

Sensitivity Study of Impact Risk Model Results to Thermal Radiation Damage Model for Large Objects

NASA’s Probabilistic Asteroid Impact Risk (PAIR) assessment model assesses the likelihood of potential damage for asteroid impact scenarios. Fast-running models are used to capture the effects of different hazards. This paper looks specifically at local ground damage hazards, including blast overpressure and thermal radiation damage, for large object impact scenarios. A sensitivity study is conducted to determine which parameters, and over what ranges, cause impact risks to become sensitive to thermal damage. Two additional thermal models with different approaches are used for comparison. The study determined the current thermal model is most sensitive to the luminous efficiency parameter that reflects the model’s uncertainty in the amount of energy contributing to the thermal radiation damage. This sensitivity was most apparent for the highest severity damage levels. Comparisons of the three models showed that in addition to sensitivities within the models, the impact risks are also sensitive to the choice of thermal model. The study results were applied to the 2023 Planetary Defense Conference hypothetical asteroid impact scenario and parameter ranges of interest determined. At the serious damage level, luminous efficiencies above 0.006 showed a small chance of thermal playing an important role, while luminous efficiencies above 0.0008 led to thermal playing a significant role at the unsurvivable damage severity level. Study results are used to identify key areas where additional model refinement and better knowledge of asteroid properties may be important for improving damage estimates.

SMD↗
NASA NTRS1982

Radiation damage in front and back illuminated high resistivity silicon solar cells

Radiation induced degradation, in front and back illuminated 84 and 1250 ohm-cm n+pp+ silicon solar cells, was determined and cell performance interpreted using calculated optically injected charge distributions and cell voltage components. The 84 ohm-cm cell degraded less when illuminated from the front or n+ side compared to that when illuminated from the back or p+ side. On the other hand, the 1250 ohm-cm cell degraded less when back illuminated. It is concluded that, in addition to the usual mechanisms leading to decreased collection efficiencies, loss of conductivity modulation is a major cause of radiation damage in high resistivity silicon solar cells. These results suggest that radiation damage to high resistivity n+pp+ cells can be decreased by increasing cell collection efficiency and illuminating the cells from the p+ side.

Weinberg, I.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Radiation damage of the HEAO C-1 germanium detectors

The effects of radiation damage from proton bombardment of the four HEAO C-1 high purity germanium detectors have been measured and compared to predictions. Because of the presence of numerous gamma-ray lines in the detector background spectra and because of the relatively long exposure time of the HEAO 3 satellite to cosmic-ray and trapped protons, it has been possible to measure both the energy and time dependence of radiation damage. After 100 d in orbit, each of the four detectors has been exposed to approximately 3 x 10 to the 7th protons/sq cm, and the average energy resolution at 1460 keV had degraded from 3.2 keV fwhm to 8.6 keV fwhm. The lines were all broadened to the low energy side although the line profile was different for each of the four detectors. The damage-related contribution to the degradation in energy resolution was found to be linear in energy and proton influence.

Mahoney, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Molecular dynamics investigation of radiation damage in semiconductors

Results of a molecular dynamics investigation of the effects of radiation damage on the crystallographic structure of semiconductors are reported. Particular cosiderastion is given to the formation of point defects and small defect complexes in silicon at the end of a radiation-damage cascade. The calculations described make use of the equivalent crystal theory of Smith and Banerjea (1988). Results on the existence of an atomic displacement threshold, the defect formation energy, and some crystallographic information on the defects observed are reported.

Good, Brian S.↗