Advanced carrier lifetime analysis method of silicon solar cells for industrial applications

Over the last few years, the silicon photovoltaic industry has been searching for efficient technologies to reduce the cost of cost/Wpeak by improving their conversion efficiency. However, with the silicon solar cell efficiency approaching the theoretical limit, it has become important to increase the efficiency distribution of cells by managing the loss factors existing in the production process. Although some companies are managing the efficiency distribution through in-line analysis equipment, a preventive action for reducing process defects has not yet been accomplished. To prevent process defects in advance, big data management is required to correlate the process conditions and solar cell parameters. Hence, an analysis method that can simply evaluate the detailed properties of completed solar cells is a key technique in future PV industries. In this paper, we introduce an advanced injection-dependent carrier lifetime analysis logic that can subdivide detailed recombination factors by fitting the carrier lifetime graph obtained through Suns-Voc measurement with a theoretical graph. The industrial applicability of this analysis method was tested with 160 commercially manufactured solar cells, demonstrating the expected quantitative gains of low-efficiency solar cells. The results show that the proposed method helps in determining the process priority for improving the efficiency distribution and provides a research direction for increasing the absolute efficiency. •In this paper, we suggested a new analysis method of injection-dependent carrier lifetime curve, because previous method for quantitative analysis of surface recombination is not suitable to obtain data for industrial level.•In addition, a technique that combines PL imaging with this analysis logic is introduced to investigate the local defect area on the solar cell.•In the revised manuscript, we modified the figure of analysis process for better understanding.•Also, more explanation and data for theoretical background and assumptions of equation were included in the revised manuscript.