A scanning-electron- or light-beam-induced current method for determination of grain boundary recombination velocity in polycrystalline semiconductors

Analytical expression for the induced current profiles at grain boundaries in polycrystalline solar cells is derived for electron-or light-beam excitation. By fitting the experimental data to the theory it is possible to determine both the interface recombination velocity S
GB
and the minority-carrier diffusion length
L
. The applicability of the theory is demonstrated by evaluating experimental electron-beam-induced current profiles.