SEM and AFM imaging of solar cells defects

摘要

The paper deals with the successive localization and imaging of solar cell defects, going from macroscale to microscale. For the purpose of localization, the light emission from reversed bias samples is used. After rough macroscopic localization, microscopic localization by scanning probe microscopy combined with a photomultiplier (shadow mapping) is performed. The type of microscopic defects are discernable from their current-voltage plot or from noise measurements. Two specific defects, both of the avalanche type, with different voltage threshold, are presented in this paper. Current voltage plots and radiant flux versus voltage characteristics for two temperatures, topography, shadow map and corresponding SEM micrographs are shown for both samples.