Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
The photovoltaic market is currently dominated by multicrystalline silicon. However, this material is characterized by intrinsic structural heterogeneity due to point defects, dislocations and grain boundaries. In order to improve the cell performance the control of the electrical properties of the grain boundaries and dislocations is required. The laser beam induced current technique allows the estimation of the variations of the charge capture rates due to the different trapping centers, and is a powerful tool for the characterization of multicrystalline silicon solar cells. Nevertheless, one has to control the reflected light in order to obtain a reliable estimation of the electrical parameters.