Investigation of carrier lifetime instabilities in Cz-grown silicon
- Inst. fuer Solarenergieforscung Hamein-Emmerthal, Emmerthal (Germany)
In the literature it is well known that the low-injection bulk carrier lifetime of boron-doped Cz-grown silicon is not a constant material property but, depending on previous thermal treatments and light exposure, varies between two states corresponding to a high and a low lifetime value. The upper state is obtained by means of low-temperature annealing, while illumination degrades the lifetime towards the value of the lower state. In order to improve the understanding of this phenomenon, the authors performed comprehensive carrier lifetime measurements on solar- and electronic-grade boron, gallium, and phosphorus doped Cz silicon wafers obtained from different manufacturers. Based on the experimental results, a new model is introduced which attributes the disappointingly low stable lifetimes of illuminated boron-doped Cz silicon with resistivity around 1 {Omega} cm to boron-oxygen pairs. From this model, simple recipes are derived which might lead to an improvement of the efficiency of commercial Cz silicon solar cells.
- OSTI ID:
- 302426
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970953-; TRN: IM9904%%214
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 26. IEEE photovoltaic specialists conference, Anaheim, CA (United States), 29 Sep - 3 Oct 1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of Conference record of the twenty sixth IEEE photovoltaic specialists conference -- 1997; PB: 1477 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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