PV01300 - SEMI PV13 - Test Method for Contactless Excess-Charge-Carrier Recombination Lifetime Measurement in Silicon Wafers, Ingots, and Bricks Using an Eddy-Current Sensor

The excess-charge-carrier (hereafter referred to as ‘excess-carrier’) recombination lifetime is the central parameter to silicon solar cell device design, production, and process control. The measurement of this lifetime as it depends on excess-carrier density yields physically significant results, which allows for design optimization and efficiency prediction in solar cells. The Test Method also describes how this recombination lifetime can be further analyzed in terms of more fundamental parameters of importance to solar cells, such as the bulk lifetime, surface recombination velocity, or the emitter saturation current density of the dopant diffusion. This Test Method includes measurement by quasi-steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC) and transient techniques using an eddy-current sensor. This Standard describes methods for measuring the excess-carrier lifetime in silicon wafers, ingots, and bricks with carrier recombination lifetime in the range of 0.1 to 15,000 µs.   The measu