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A Method to Quantify the Collective Impact of Grain Boundaries on the Internal Quantum Efficiency of Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Pacho Aleo Paolo,
Rinio Markus
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.202000229
Subject(s) - ingot , grain boundary , quantum efficiency , materials science , silicon , solar cell , optoelectronics , microstructure , composite material , alloy
Herein, a method to quantify the amount of reduction in the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of multicrystalline silicon solar cells that can be attributed to grain boundaries is presented. By correlating the IQE maps obtained via light beam induced current (LBIC) topography with optical images of Secco‐etched samples, the distribution of IQE values at the positions of grain boundaries can be compared with the distribution of IQE values for all other positions where other defects may exist. The segmentation of IQE at 826 nm maps of the samples shows grain boundaries to be more detrimental compared with the combined effects of all other defects that may exist in other regions of the cell. The grain boundaries reduce the average IQE by up to 4.07% absolute for the cell from the bottom of the ingot.