Measurement of short lifetimes of minority charge carriers in silicon solar cells irradiated by fast electrons

A new modulation method was suggested to determine short lifetimes $(\ge10^{-8} с)$ of minority charge carriers in the base region of solar cells. The method is based on compensation for the alternating photocurrent by an additional current source. Data obtained for single-crystal silicon solar cells irradiated by a fluence of electrons (below $10^{16} см^{-2}$) with 1 MeV energy are presented.