Contactless measurement of electrical parameters and estimation of current-voltage characteristics of Si solar cells using the illumination intensity dependence of lock-in carrierography (photoluminescence) images

A combined theoretical and experimental approach is reported using spectrally windowed lock-in carrierography imaging (lock-in photoluminescence) under variable illumination intensity to provide quantitative contactless measurements of key electrical parameters (photogenerated current density, Jg, open circuit voltage, VOC, and maximum power voltage, Vm) of multicrystalline silicon (m-Si) solar cells in very good agreement with standard electrical measurements. The method is based on a recently developed photocarrier radiative recombination current flux relation which links the optical and electrical characteristics of solar cells. In addition, this approach is shown to yield non-contact all-optical estimates of the solar-cell current-voltage characteristics with the conventional variable load resistance replaced by variable laser intensity.