Measurement of Variation of Minority Carrier Lifetime in 8 MeV Electron Irradiated c-Si Solar Cells Using RRT Method

Abstract

The variation of minority carrier lifetime in c-Si solar cells due to the irradiation of 8 MeV electrons of various doses ranging from 5 to 100 kGy was studied. The minority carrier lifetime and diffusion length of c-Si solar cells were determined before and after irradiation using the reverse recovery transient (RRT) method. The minority carrier lifetime is found to decrease with increasing electron dose, which is interpreted as due to the creation of non-radiative recombination centers which affects the diffusion current. The minority carrier diffusion length decreases exponentially with electron dose. The reduction in diffusion length due to electron irradiation will reduce the conversion efficiency of solar cells.