Contactless measurement of minority carrier lifetime in silicon ingots and bricks

Measuring the bulk lifetime of unpassivated blocks and ingots is of great interest to the solar cell industry. The eddy‐current photoconductance method is a common choice for such measurements, employing the quasi‐steady‐state (QSS) mode for lower lifetime samples, and the transient photoconductance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Progress in photovoltaics 2011-05, Vol.19 (3), p.313-319
Main Authors: Swirhun, James S., Sinton, Ronald A., Forsyth, M. Keith, Mankad, Tanaya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Bricks
Bulk sampling
carrier lifetime
Decay
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Ingots
Minority carriers
multicrystalline
Natural energy
PCD
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaic conversion
QSSPC
silicon
solar cell
Solar cells
Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells
Solar energy
wafer
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Summary:Measuring the bulk lifetime of unpassivated blocks and ingots is of great interest to the solar cell industry. The eddy‐current photoconductance method is a common choice for such measurements, employing the quasi‐steady‐state (QSS) mode for lower lifetime samples, and the transient photoconductance decay (PCD) mode for higher lifetime samples. Due to the high surface recombination velocity in unpassivated bulk samples, the lifetime measured with this method consists of components of recombination at both the surface and in the bulk. In order to determine the bulk lifetime from the measurement data, simulations of both transient and QSS mode measurements were conducted. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper presents results of simulations of minority carrier lifetime measurements in thick silicon samples using the contactless eddy‐current technique. Measurements in both QSSPC and transient modes were simulated, resulting in more accurate determination of bulk lifetime in unpassivated block and ingot samples as they may exist in industrial settings.
ISSN:1062-7995
1099-159X
1099-159X
DOI:10.1002/pip.1029