Premium
Prediction of diffusion length in multicrystalline silicon solar cells from trapping images on starting material
Author(s) -
Schubert Martin C.,
Warta Wilhelm
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.738
Subject(s) - trapping , wafer , diffusion , solar cell , materials science , silicon , trap (plumbing) , crystal (programming language) , monocrystalline silicon , crystalline silicon , optoelectronics , thermodynamics , physics , computer science , meteorology , ecology , biology , programming language
Areas with high crystal defect density are known to have a strong impact on the performance of silicon solar cells. Trapping has been reported to be correlated with crystal defects. We compare spatially resolved measurements of the trapping effect on unprocessed wafers with diffusion length measurements on solar cells. An excellent correlation is found between these two measurements. This allows a prediction of diffusion length for the processed solar cell directly from the trap image, for a given cell process and comparable material. This technique has thus a great potential for inline process control of starting material in solar cell production. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.