LBIC and Reflectance Mapping of Multicrystalline Si Solar Cells

Multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) is increasingly used in the photovoltaic industry. However, this material is characterized by intrinsic structural heterogeneities (dislocations, grain boundaries, etc.), which are detrimental to the performance of the cells. The minority-carrier diffusion length is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of electronic materials 2010-06, Vol.39 (6), p.663-670
Main Authors: Moralejo, B., González, M. A., Jiménez, J., Parra, V., Martínez, O., Gutiérrez, J., Charro, O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Chemistry and Materials Science
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Defects
Defects and impurities in crystals
microstructure
Electronic transport in condensed matter
Electronics and Microelectronics
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Grain and twin boundaries
Instrumentation
Lasers
Linear defects: dislocations, disclinations
Materials Science
Natural energy
Optical and Electronic Materials
Photoconduction and photovoltaic effects
photodielectric effects
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaic conversion
Physics
Silicon
Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells
Solar energy
Solid State Physics
Structure of solids and liquids
crystallography
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Summary:Multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) is increasingly used in the photovoltaic industry. However, this material is characterized by intrinsic structural heterogeneities (dislocations, grain boundaries, etc.), which are detrimental to the performance of the cells. The minority-carrier diffusion length is sensitive to these defects, and gives an indication of the material quality and its suitability for solar cell use. The laser beam induced current (LBIC) technique makes it possible to estimate the local minority-carrier diffusion length from photocurrent contrast data. The purpose of this work is to show an advanced homemade LBIC system that highlights the importance of controlling the laser power excitation and the reflected light in inhomogeneous mc-Si samples. This control demonstrates that the estimated minority-carrier diffusion length ( L Diff ) in texturized multicrystalline wafers strongly depends on the collecting conditions of the reflected light.
ISSN:0361-5235
1543-186X
DOI:10.1007/s11664-010-1174-8