A procedure was presented for determining the dependence of photoconductance lifetime upon the occupation of multiple defects. The procedure required numerical iteration. This made it more cumbersome, than available analytical equations, for treating single-defect and simplified two-defect cases, but permitted other possibilities: it accounted for the defect concentration when calculating the equilibrium carrier concentrations, it permitted recombination via any number of defects, it furnished the occupied fraction of all defects at any injection and it led to a better understanding of the role played by defect occupation in photoconductance measurements. The value of the procedure was demonstrated using an experimental sample which contained multiple defects. The dependence of the sample photoconductance upon carrier concentration and temperature could be qualitatively described by the generalized procedure, but not by analytical models. The results also demonstrated that the influence of defect occupation upon photoconductance lifetime measurements was mitigated at high temperatures; a conclusion which was particularly relevant to the study of multicrystalline silicon.

Generalized Procedure to Determine the Dependence of Steady-State Photoconductance Lifetime on the Occupation of Multiple Defects. K.R.McIntosh, B.B.Paudyal, D.H.Macdonald: Journal of Applied Physics, 2008, 104[8], 08450