Minority carrier lifetime in silicon wafers from quasi-steady-state photoluminescence

Based on quasi-steady-state photoluminescence, we present an approach to extract minority carrier lifetime from silicon wafers without a priori information about any material parameter (e.g., dopant concentration or mobility). A sinusoidal oscillation of irradiation of a silicon sample in time stimulates a likewise oscillating excess carrier density. Our approach is based on the fact that - in the quasi-steady-state regime - the time shift between the maxima of irradiation intensity and the intensity of radiative recombination is linked to effective minority carrier lifetime. Exploiting the continuity equation, it is possible to determine injection dependent minority carrier lifetime from there.