Fast series resistance imaging for silicon solar cells using electroluminescence

We introduce a fast and easy to apply method for determining the local series resistance of standard silicon solar cells. For this method only two electroluminescence images taken at different voltages are needed. From these two images, the local voltage and the local current density through the device can be calculated. Knowing these parameters for each pixel yields the local series resistance. By calculating the cell's dark saturation current from the lower voltage image, the method also works with multicrystal line material. We show images, acquired in only 300 ms and compare them with other luminescence based series resistance images. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim