Millisecond minority carrier lifetimes in n-type multicrystalline silicon

Exceptionally high minority carrier lifetimes have been measured in n-type multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) grown by directional solidification and subjected to phosphorus gettering. The highest effective lifetimes, up to 1.6 ms averaged over several grains and 2.8 ms within some of them, were measured for relatively lowly doped, 2–3 Ωcm, wafers. The lifetime was found to decrease for lower resistivities, still reaching 500 μs for 0.9 Ωcm and 100 μs for 0.36 Ωcm. Several important findings are reported here: (i) achievement of carrier lifetimes in the millisecond range for mc-Si, (ii) effectiveness of phosphorus gettering in n-type mc-Si, and (iii) demonstration of good stability under illumination for n-type mc-Si.