CONTACTLESS MEASUREMENT OF RECOMBINATION LIFETIME IN PHOTOVOLTAIC MATERIALS

Contactless measurement of important semiconductor parameters has beco me the goal of current semiconductor diagnostics. Here we will describ e an improved version of radiofrequency photoconductive decay operatin g in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region. Previous work has referred to the general technique as UHF photoconductive decay. This work will show that the improved technique is capable of measuring samples rang ing in size from submicron thin films to large silicon ingots. The UHF frequency region is an ideal compromise for volume penetration and li fetime resolution with system response or 10 ns or less. (C) 1998 Else vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.