Generalized analysis of quasi-steady-state and transient decay open circuit voltage measurements

Abstract

The current-voltage characteristics of solar cells and photodiodes can be determined by measuring the open-circuit voltage as a function of a slowly varying light intensity. This article presents a detailed theoretical analysis and interpretation of such quasi-steady-state V oc measurements (QssV oc). The ability of this analysis to accurately obtain the true steady-state device characteristics even in the case of high lifetime, high resistivity silicon devices is demonstrated experimentally. The QssV oc technique can be used to determine the minority carrier lifetime, and the new generalized analysis is required to do this accurately. An important outcome is that solar cell and diode device characteristics can be obtained from measurements of either the photoconductance or the open-circuit voltage, even using transient techniques.

Electrical properties of conductive Ge nanocrystal thin films fabricated by low temperaturein situgrowth

“…Heterojunction ( measurement [49]. The advantage of this method is that it can eliminate the adverse effects of series resistance on V oc , which are significant in our samples.…”

Silicon based solar cells using a multilayer oxide as emitter

“…38 The quasi-steadystate open-circuit voltage (QssV oc ) method has been proven an effective technique to evaluate the surface property and minority carrier lifetime. 39 As shown in Fig. 4(a), implied V oc (i-V oc ) as high as 621 mV is obtained by n-Si sample capped with WAW multilayer (55/12/10 nm), while n-Si sample capped with single WO 3 layer (65 nm) displays inferior i-V oc of 576 mV, which matches well with the reported i-V oc value of ∼570 mV for n-Si/WO 3 contact.…”

Influence of Amorphous Silicon Carbide Intermediate Layer in the Back-Contact Structure of Cu2ZnSnSe4Solar Cells

“…In order to determine the origin of this improvement, we performed suns-V oc measurements of the best cells. In this technique, a flash lamp is used and the light intensity and V oc of the cell are simultaneously measured [27]. Assuming a linear relationship between light intensity and J sc , we can translate light intensity to current density and calculate an illuminated J-V characteristic.…”