Title:	Quantification of the Light-Induced-Degradation Effects in Iron-Rich Silicon Wafers via Carrier Lifetime Measurements
Author(s):	F. Tanay, S. Dubois, N. Enjalbert, J. Veirman, I. Périchaud
Keywords:	Degradation, Experimental Method, Lifetime, Silicon (Si), Defect Density
Topic:	Wafer-based Silicon Solar Cells and Materials Technology
Subtopic:	Silicon Solar Cell Characterisation and Modelling
Event:	26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
Session:	2CO.13.6
Pages:	1039 - 1044
ISBN:	3-936338-27-2
Paper DOI:	10.4229/26thEUPVSEC2011-2CO.13.6
Price:	0,00 EUR
Document(s):	paper

Abstract/Summary:

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The present study details two experimental methods to discriminate the effect of the boron-oxygen complexes (BOi2) from the influence of the iron-boron (FeB) pairs in order to evaluate the Light Induced Degradation (LID) effects only due to the BOi2 complexes actvation in presence of Fe. The methods are based on effective carrier lifetime measurements (eff) by using the microwave-detected PhotoConductance Decay (μW-PCD) and the inductively coupled – Quasi-Steady State PhotoConductance (IC-QSSPC) techniques. These methods allows the quantification of both the LID effects and the concentration of the dissolved iron ([Fe]d) despite the simultaneous presence of Fe and BOi2 in the material. Moreover both methods require standard and common characterisation tools. Using the μW-PCD technique, we succeed in working out the carrier lifetime limited by the BOi2 complexes (BO) and [Fe]d. In a second step, the QSSPC technique measures the variation of eff as function of time under illumination without the effects of Fe. Using these latter data, we monitor the kinetics of the LID due to the BOi2 complexes only.