Modeling effective carrier lifetimes of passivated macroporous silicon layers

We derive and apply a model that determines the effective minority carrier lifetime of macroporous crystalline silicon samples as a function of bulk lifetime, surface passivation and pore morphology. Two cases are considered: A layer of periodic macropores at the surface of a silicon wafer and a free standing macroporous silicon layer. We compare the model with experimental lifetime measurements for samples with randomly positioned macropores with a length of 10–40 μm. The pores have an average pore diameter of 2.4 μm and an average pore distance of 5.2 μm. The surface is passivated by thermal oxidation. The model agrees with the measurements if we assume an average surface recombination velocity S=24 cm/s at the pore surface.

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► We model the effective minority carrier lifetime of passivated macroporous crystalline silicon.
► Two cases are considered: A layer of periodic macropores at the surface of a silicon wafer and a free standing macroporous silicon layer.
► The model agrees with experimental lifetime measurements.