Combined optical and electrical characterisation of minority carrier lifetime in solar cells

This thesis presents a novel method to quantify the localised carrier collection efficiency of thin film solar cells by integrating a theoretical model with data from a newly developed combined measurement system capable of measuring spectrally-resolved photoluminescence (PL), time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and transient photocurrent decay (TPCD) at the same spot on the solar cell. This combined measurement approach allows for the identification and further understanding of the limiting factors in the carrier collection efficiency of solar cells. [Continues.]