Minority Carrier Lifetime Analysis in the Bulk of Thin-Film Absorbers Using Subbandgap (Two-Photon) Excitation

Author

Kuciauskas, Darius ; Kanevce, Ana ; Burst, James M. ; Duenow, Joel N. ; Dhere, Ramesh ; Albin, D.S. ; Levi, Dean H. ; Ahrenkiel, R.K.

Author_Institution

Nat. Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO, USA

Volume

3

Issue

4

fYear

2013

fDate

Oct. 2013

Firstpage

1319

Lastpage

1324

Abstract

We describe a new time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) analysis method for the determination of minority carrier lifetime τ_B. This analysis is based on subbandgap excitation (two-photon excitation, or 2PE) and allows selective lifetime determination at the surface or in the bulk of semiconductor absorbers. We show that for single-crystal CdTe, τB could be determined even if surface recombination velocity is >10⁵ cm s^-1. Two-photon excitation TRPL measurements indicate that radiative lifetime in undoped CdTe is >>66 ns. We also compare one-photon excitation (1PE) and 2PE TRPL data for polycrystalline CdS/CdTe thin films.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; cadmium compounds; carrier lifetime; minority carriers; photoluminescence; semiconductor thin films; surface recombination; time resolved spectra; two-photon spectra; wide band gap semiconductors; 2PE TRPL data; CdS-CdTe; CdTe; minority carrier lifetime analysis; polycrystalline thin films; radiative lifetime; semiconductor absorber surface; single-crystal CdTe; subbandgap two-photon excitation; surface recombination velocity; thin-film absorbers; time-resolved photoluminescence analysis; two-photon excitation TRPL measurements; Cadmium compounds; Charge carrier lifetime; Photoluminescence; Cadmium telluride; minority carrier lifetime; photovoltaic (PV) device; time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-3381

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2270354

Filename

6553424