Measurement of Minority-Carrier Lifetime in Silicon Solar Cells by the Photoconductive Decay Method

Abstract

One of the critical parameters for the overall efficiency of solar cells is the lifetime of minority carriers. This manuscript describes the measurement of minority - carrier lifetime of silicon solar cells, at room temperature, by photoconductive decay method. The Holobeam, Model 655 Double-Pulsed Holographic system, is used as the light source. This consists of a Q-switched, pulsed ruby laser oscillator with two ruby laser amplifiers. Silicon samples with projected lifetimes of less than O.25μ secs to about 8μ secs are used for the investigation, and the results obtained using this technique, compare favourably with the results furnished by the manufacturers.