Correlation of Different Electrical Parameters of Solar Cells with Silver Front Electrodes.

Małgorzata Musztyfaga-Staszuk,Damian Janicki,Piotr Panek

doi:10.3390/ma12030366

Małgorzata Musztyfaga-Staszuk, Damian Janicki + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12030366

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Abstract

This work presents comparison results of the selected electrical parameters of silicon solar cells manufactured with silver front electrodes which were co-fired in an infrared belt furnace in the temperature range of 840–960 °C. The commercial paste (PV19B) was used for the metallization process. Electrical properties of a batch of solar cells fabricated in one cycle were investigated. Three methods were used, including measurement of the current-voltage characteristics (I-V), measurement of contacts’ resistivity using the transmission Line model method (TLM), and measurement of contacts’ resistivity using the potential difference method (PD). This work is focused on both the different metallization temperatures of co-firing of solar cells and measurements using the above-mentioned methods. It is shown that the solar cell parameters measured with three methods have different, but strongly correlated values. Moreover, the comparative analysis was performed of the investigations of the same photovoltaic solar cells using both the TLM method and independent research stands (including one non-commercial and two commercial ones) at three different scientific units. In the PD and TLM methods, the same calculation formulae are used. It can be stated, comparing methods I-V, PD, and TLM, that for each, different parameters are determined to assess the electrical properties of the solar cell.

Highlights

Based on the available literature [1,2,3,4,5], we can evaluate the current status of several methods which are used for the measurement of the selected electrical parameters of a solar cell using different devices
More publications appeared in the 1990s, and more various methods were used, including, for instance, including measurement of the current-voltage characteristics (I-V) and transmission Line model method (TLM) among others to determine the series resistance RS of solar cells and their experimental investigation to find the most reliable and robust method(s) for cell characterization under operating conditions
We find the occurrence of a small scatter in the calculation of contact resistance (Rc ), specific resistance, and current path (LT ), which is determined graphically from the resistance measured as a function of distance (R = f (d)) for TLM-1 measurement stations, and TLM-2 and TLM-3 results from the literature used for measurements and the number of measurements taken

Summary

Introduction

Based on the available literature [1,2,3,4,5], we can evaluate the current status of several methods which are used for the measurement of the selected electrical parameters of a solar cell using different devices. It is generally known that most of them are destructive (such as the transmission line model (TLM), the potential difference (PD), and the current-voltage characteristics (I-V) methods) or nondestructive (for instance cTLM, known as the circular transmission line method), but require the fabrication of exceptional metal contacts. The dopant sources may be used in solar cell production being deposited onto the wafer surface by means of screen-printing [6,7], spray-on method [8,9], or formed from the gaseous phase [10]

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