Transient photoluminescence decay investigations of LPE GaAs heteroface solar cells

Transient photoluminescence decay (PLD) is investigated as a technique for the quality control of GaAs solar cells. An analytic expression for the PL intensity is derived from the time-dependent continuity equation for minority carrier concentration in the emitter by the Fourier transform method. On both sides of the emitter, i.e., at the interface to the window layer and to the space charge region, surface recombination velocities that can vary between 0 and ∞ are allowed as boundary conditions. Experiments were performed using a mode-locked and cavity-damped laser as the excitation source and an optical sampling oscilloscope as the detector for the transient PL. PLD from GaAs wafers and solar cells was measured with a time resolution of down to 20 ps for various intensities of laser excitation and -for the cells under open-circuit and short-circuit conditions. The results are discussed with respect to the theory together with a model of local internal boundary conditions at the junction near the exciting laser beam