Spatially resolved series resistance of silicon solar cells obtained from luminescence imaging

The fast determination of the spatially resolved series resistance of silicon solar cells from luminescence images is demonstrated. Strong lateral variation of the series resistance determined from luminescence images taken on an industrial screen printed silicon solar cell is confirmed qualitatively by a Corescan measurement and quantitatively by comparison with the total series resistance obtained from the terminal characteristics of the cell. Compared to existing techniques that measure the spatially resolved series resistance, luminescence imaging has the advantage that it is nondestructive and orders of magnitude faster.