Polarization analysis of luminescence for the characterization of silicon wafer solar cells

Luminescence imaging is routinely used to extract important information from photovoltaic materials and devices. We extend the existing luminescence imaging technique to yield the partial polarization of luminescence. It is observed that certain material structures of silicon wafer solar cells generate strongly polarized luminescence. The luminescence polarization effect is related to internal charge anisotropy of certain defects in the silicon wafer solar cells. These observations may be used, for example, to advance the characterization of solar cells, to understand the electrical properties of defects in silicon wafer solar cells, or to study the formation of defects during crystal growth. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3584857]