Reassessment of intrinsic lifetime limit in n-type crystalline silicon and implication on maximum solar cell efficiency

Unusually high carrier lifetimes are measured by photoconductance decay on n-type Czochralski-grown silicon wafers of different doping concentrations, passivated using plasma-assisted atomic-layer-deposited aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on both wafer surfaces. The measured effective lifetimes significantly exceed the intrinsic lifetime limit previously reported in the literature. Several prerequisites have to be fulfilled to allow the measurement of such high lifetimes on Al2O3-passivated n-type silicon wafers: (i) large-area wafers are required to minimize the impact of edge recombination via the Al2O3-charge-induced inversion layer, (ii) an exceptionally homogeneous Al2O3 surface passivation is required, and (iii) very thick silicon wafers are needed. Based on our lifetime measurements on n-type silicon wafers of different doping concentrations, we introduce a new parameterization of the intrinsic lifetime for n-type crystalline silicon. This new parameterization has implications concerning the maximum reachable efficiency of n-type silicon solar cells, which is larger than assumed before.