Trapping of minority carriers in multicrystalline silicon

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Abnormally high effective carrier lifetimes have been observed in multicrystalline silicon wafers using both transient and steady-state photoconductance techniques. A simple model based on the presence of trapping centers explains this phenomenon both qualitatively and quantitatively. By fitting this model to experimental data acquired with a quasi-steady-state photoconductance technique, it is possible to determine the trap density, trap energy, and the ratio between the mean-trapping time and mean-escape time. A correlation between trap density and dislocation density in the material has been found.