Photoluminescence lifetime spectroscopy - Surface recombination analysis

The recently introduced quasi-steady-state photoluminescence technique (QSS-PL) for determining the injection-dependent carrier lifetime in silicon samples was shown to be a good complement of the well established quasi-steady-state photoconductance technique (QSS-PC) especially in the low injection regime, where the QSS-PC technique is prone to measurement artefacts due to trapping or depletion region modulation. The ability to measure the real recombination lifetime at low injection densities makes the QSS-PL an ideal tool for the analysis and subsequent modelling of the surface recombination velocity. In this contribution a thickness and resistivity varied sample set of SiO2 passivated silicon samples is used to investigate the injection-dependent surface recombination velocity. Modelling of these experimental data with a recent model yields the relevant surface parameters for the investigated passivation. In addition, corona charging is used for further reduction of the surface recombination velocity in order to gain additional knowledge of the sample surface.