Electroluminescence from monocrystalline silicon solar cell

The band edge emission with the peak at 1.15 μm is observed at room temperature from monocrystalline silicon solar cell at forward bias. The electroluminescence spectra can be fitted by electron hole plasma recombination model. The temporal response of electroluminescence is used to characterize the minority carrier lifetime by fitting the time evolution of radiative recombination using the Shockley-Read-Hall, radiative, and Auger recombination models. The minority carrier lifetime is almost constant (1.8 ms) for excess carrier density lower than 4× 1015 cm-3, and then decreases at higher concentration. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.