Correlation between solar cell efficiency and minority carrier lifetime for batch processed multicrystalline Si wafers

Among the key parameters that ultimately control the performance of a solar cell, the “Minority carrier lifetime” plays the most crucial role. In the process chain involved in conversion of a wafer to a solar cell, each process contributes to change in the carrier lifetime. Hence performance of a particular process can be quantified based on the measure of carrier lifetime before and after the specific process. In an industrial production line, measure of carrier lifetime can be used for real time diagnosis. This paper deals with how to model the overall performance of a production line based on minority carrier lifetime of the wafers used to fabricate the cell. We have shown in this paper that the processing of wafers which were segregated based on their minority carrier lifetime results in increase in yield of the production line. Segregated processing also resulted in improvement of electrical performance of the batch processed solar cells.