Comparison of minority carrier diffusion length measurements in silicon solar cells by the photo-induced open-circuit voltage decay (OCVD) with different excitation sources

The photoinduced open-circuit voltage decay technique was used to investigate the minority carrier lifetime in crystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells. This convenient investigation technique allows a fast determination of the diffusion length of minority carriers in semiconductor materials and is an important technique to predict the solar cell performance. The decay curves were obtained with different excitation sources, a xenon stroboscope lamp and a Nd:YAG laser, and the results were compared.