The minority carrier lifetime (&tgr;) in the base region ofn+‐psilicon solar cells has been measured in the temperature range ∼77–400 °K using the open‐circuit voltage decay technique. The injection level has been maintained constant in the entire temperature region. Experiment and theory agree in a small temperature region if &tgr;n0(minority carrier lifetime in heavily dopedpsilicon) is assumed to be temperature independent. However, an excellent fit between experimental and theoretical results is obtained if &tgr;n0is assumed to vary as exp[−(E&tgr;n0/kT)].