Simulation of luminescence intensity combining PC1D electrical simulation with analytical optical models

Photoluminescence and electroluminescence of crystalline silicon is a property which has become very important for the characterization of silicon wafers and solar cells. In our contribution we give an overview on the dependencies of wafer specific parameters to the luminescence intensity. Having the possibility to quickly access these dependencies allows interpreting photoluminescence images taken during the solar cell process for matters of process control in a more quantitative manner. We model the dependencies calculating the charge carrier profiles using the numerical simulation tool PC1D. Effects like reabsorption, spectral quantum efficiency of the detectors and geometrical optics are separately taken into account by analytical dependencies. We shortly introduce the graphical user interface of the simulation tool developed for fast visualization of dependencies of wafer specific parameters to luminescence intensity. Among other dependencies we find that luminescence intensity is proportional to wafer thickness if bulk lifetimes are sufficiently high whereas the dependence of luminescence intensity to wafer thickness becomes weak for lower bulk lifetimes.