Experimental and theoretical study of the infrared emissivity of crystalline silicon solar cells

There have been a number of studies on the kinetics of the various B-O related defect transitions: degradation, regeneration, and destabilization. Some methods have monitored the inverse of minority carrier lifetime, 1/τ, at an injection level of Δn=1×10
¹⁵
/cm
³
. Other studies have used Voc, J01, or Jsc. This work summarizes some of these approaches and describes their sensitivity, behaviors, and validity. For an Arrhenius analysis, using the inverse of the minority carrier lifetime, 1/τ, at a fixed injection level is the only appropriate measure. However, this still leaves the question regarding which injection level to use. Commercially, the efficiency is of utmost importance. We show how the efficiency rate constant is different from the B-O defect rate constant due to the varying injection level of the maximum power point. An effective activation energy for the efficiency rate constant may be useful in predicting efficiency losses, but should not be used to describe the kinetics of the B-O reactions.