Comments on “Nanoscale Investigation of Carrier Lifetime on the Cross Section of Epitaxial Silicon Solar Cells Using Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy”

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In recent years, there has been an increasing interest on the study of the complex interplay between the nanostructure and phototransport mechanism in many emerging photovoltaic technologies. Recently, Kelvin probe force microscopy has emerged as a powerful technique for probing photocarrier dynamics and gaining access to carrier lifetime at the nanoscale in a wide range of photovoltaic materials. In the paper entitled “Nanoscale investigation of carrier lifetime on the cross section of epitaxial silicon solar cells using Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy” by Narchi et al . ( IEEE J. Photovolt ., vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 1576–1580, Nov. 2016), an innovative method to asses minority carrier lifetime at the nanoscale using Kelvin probe force microscopy under frequency modulated electrical bias on the cross section of an epitaxial silicon solar cell was demonstrated. The purpose of this note is to complement the results obtained by Narchi et al ., by showing that two-dimensional images of the photocarrier dynamics of different photophysical processes can be obtained upon the implementation of a postacquisition data processing. In this note, we also discuss how this photocarrier dynamical images can be linked with the underlying physical processes that take place in the sample upon carrier injection.