A new testing method for point contact solar cells

In this work, we demonstrated a simple method to test the point contact design and determine the Surface Recombination Velocity (SRV) of the point contact solar cells from a single PL image. The thermally grown silicon dioxide is patterned by using lithographic means. The size, pitch and pattern of the point contact opening holes are varied in order to find the relationship between opening density and the effective carrier lifetime of the entire cell region. The advantages of this new characterization method compare with other SRV test methods are first, it is simple, reliable and fast, requires no other equipment but only a single PL image; second, a large quantity of design can be tested on a same wafer simultaneously.