Bounds upon grain boundary effects in minority carrier semiconductor devices: A rigorous ''perturbation'' approach with application to silicon solar cells

Rigorous bounds upon the effects of grain boundaries upon minority carrier semiconductor devices such as solar cells are calculated. These bounds can be formulated in terms of an effective lifetime parameter as for spatially uniformly distributed defects. The value of this lifetime parameter depends on grain boundary geometry and activity. This concept applies to grain boundary effects in both bulk quasineutral and depletion regions. The electrostatic enhancement of grain boundary recombination in depletion regions is less severe than in bulk regions near thermal equilibrium. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.