Minority-carrier life-time in polycrystalline semiconductors—some analytical considerations

Abstract

Analytical expressions governing the minority-carrier lifetime at the grain boundary surface and in the bulk region of the semiconductor have been derived. The well known Shockley-Read-Hall statistics for the carrier generation-recombination kinetics has been employed for this analysis. The present study has essentially been made for large-grained polycrystalline semiconductors and should prove useful in photovoltaic and switching applications.

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Notes on contributors

N. M. RAVINDRA

Present address Microelectronics Center of North Carolina, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, and the Materials Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27650, U.S.A