We determine the minority carrier lifetimes of nearly intrinsic Si films 1.5-15 mu m thick grown by HWCVD at 300 degrees C on Si (100) and large-grained polycrystalline templates formed by selective nucleation and solid-phase epitaxy (SNSPE) using resonant-coupled photoconductive decay (RCPCD). Although the microstructure of these films is mostly microcrystalline, minority carrier lifetimes for films on Si (100) range from 5.7 to 14.8 mu s while those for films on SNSPE templates range from 5.9 to 19.3 mu s. Residual nickel present in the SNSPE templates may contribute a recombination center but does not significantly decrease the lifetime of films grown on SNSPE templates, making the growth of epitaxial layers by HWCVD on SNSPE templates a viable design for thin-film photovoltaics. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.