Investigation of the photon emission from the p-n junction of silicon solar cells studied by electro-optical methods

journal article - other

English

We investigate localized defects in silicon solar cells. These imperfections represent a real problem because they can lead to long-term degradation and decreasing conversion efficiency of solar cells. Thus, this paper presents a systematic optical investigation of local defects and their correlation with rectangular microplasma fluctuations. A sensitive CCD camera has been used for mapping the surface photon emission from localized defects. The operation point of the samples has been set to reverse bias mode and varying electric fields were applied. It turns out that some solar cells exhibit imperfection in the bulk and also close to the cell edges. However, we confine our work here to bulk. Using a combination of optical investigations and electrical noise measurement in the time and spectral domain, we reveal a direct correlation between noise and photon emission. The results for several defect spots are presented in detail.

Solar cell, microplasma noise, local defect, photon emission, electric breakdown

MACKŮ, R.; TOMÁNEK, P.; KOKTAVÝ, P.

2011

15. 10. 2011

SPIE

USA

0277-786X

Proceedings of SPIE

8036

8306

United States of America

1I1

1I6

6