Abstract
This paper presents the qualitative analysis of the variation of effective lifetime of minority carriers in p-type Si solar cell due to different recombination mechanisms associated with it. There is a direct relation between the minority carrier lifetime and the solar cell efficiency. The higher lifetime of minority carrier results in increased conversion efficiency of silicon solar cell. As silicon wafers are endowed with different crystal defects and grain boundaries, a reduced minority carrier lifetime is observed for both bulk and surface recombination processes that occur through these defects. A detailed knowledge of the role of recombination processes on carrier lifetime will facilitate the design of high efficiency solar cell.