Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol.45, No.4, 385-399, 1997
Energy band structure parameters and their data, derived from the measurements of minority carrier current density in heavily doped emitters of silicon devices
In the n(p)-type heavily doped emitter region (HDER) of silicon devices, at room temperature, we have investigated the minority-carrier lifetime and the energy band structure parameters such as band-gap narrowing, apparent band-gap narrowing, unperturbed Fermi energy shift, optical gap, and reduced interacting density-of-majority conduction (valence) band states effective mass. As used in our previous paper, the present treatment is also based on the two assumptions for minority-carrier transport parameters, Gaussian impurity density profile, and accurate expression for minority-carrier mobility. Our empirical models for minority-carrier lifetime and band-gap narrowing are proposed and determined such that their curves versus the impurity concentration lie in between their existing experimental data. Then, from a conjunction between electrical and optical phenomena, it is found that our theoretical values of such the energy band structure parameters are in good accordance with our own corresponding data, derived from the measurements of minority-carrier saturation current density in the n(p)-type HDER of silicon devices.