Statistical evaluation of a luminescence-based method for imaging the series resistance of solar cells

In the last years photoluminescence (PL) imaging has become a standard characterization method for conventional silicon solar cells and wafers providing spatially resolved information for material characterization and process control. In this work, the method of the c oupled determination of d ark saturation c urrent and series r esistance (C-DCR) is evaluated on conventional silicon solar cells in terms of its accuracy, reliability and informative value based on a large number of conventional multicrystalline silicon solar cells. The statistical evaluation is based on a comparison of the series resistance mean values obtained from the C-DCR method with the global values obtained from the IV-characteristics within the standard cell testing. Furthermore, examples for its application are given and demonstrate that the minimum exposure time needed for the C-DCR method is short enough to allow an inline application of the method.