Photoluminescence imaging of solar grade mc-Si wafers and solar cells as a tool for efficiency qualification

Abstract

The photoluminescence imaging (PLi) technique allows for the fast qualification of mc-Si wafers and solar cells, giving information of the presence and distribution of carrier capture centres, which obviously affect the final efficiencies. In this work, we characterize a wide collection of solar cells by PLi, correlating some aspects extracted from the PL images to their efficiencies. The desired goal of this approach is to provide a tool allowing a robust prediction of solar cell efficiency from the PL images of the wafers.