Relationship between trapping density and open circuit voltage in multicrystalline silicon solar cells

Minority carrier trapping frequently exists in solar grade multicrystalline silicon. At low illumination levels, the effect of trapping centers on open circuit voltage of multicrystalline silicon solar cells is dependent on the trap density and illumination level. In this paper, the relation between trapping density and open circuit voltage of multicrystalline silicon solar cells at different illumination levels is studied by a series of experiments. The experimental evidence suggests that the effect of trapping on open circuit voltage of multicrystalline silicon solar cells is obvious at carrier injection levels equal to and below the trap density, the trapping effect of multicrystalline silicon can be reflected by measuring open circuit voltage at low illumination levels, instead of complicated lifetime measurements, and some multicrystalline silicon solar cells with higher trap densities have higher open-circuit voltages at weak illumination levels. The measurement and analysis of the trapping effect is a relative tool to diagnose the quality of multicrystalline silicon, so a new method is presented to analyze relative quality of multicrystalline silicon by measuring open circuit voltage at weak illumination levels. C 2006 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.