Visualizing the performance loss of solar cells by IR thermography - an evaluation study on CIGS with artificially induced defects

Vetter A, Babbe FS, Hofbeck B, Kubis P, Richter M, Heise SJ, Ohland J, Riedel I, Brabec C (2016)

Publication Language: English

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2016

Journal

Progress in Photovoltaics Wiley-Blackwell

Book Volume: 24

Pages Range: 1001-1008

Journal Issue: 7

DOI: 10.1002/pip.2749

Abstract

Local electric defects may result in considerable performance losses in solar cells. Infrared (IR) thermography is one important tool to detect these defects on photovoltaic modules. Qualitative interpretation of IR images has been carried out successfully, but quantitative interpretation has been hampered by the lack of “calibration” defects. The aims of this study are to (i) establish methods to induce well-defined electric defects in thin-film solar cells serving as “calibration” defects and to (ii) assess the accuracy of IR imaging methods by using these artificially induced defects. This approach paves the way for improving quality control methods based on imaging in photovoltaic. We created ohmic defects (“shunts”) by using a focused ion beam and weak diodes (“interface shunts”) by applying a femto-second laser at rather low power on copper indium gallium selenide cells. The defects can be induced precisely and reproducibly, and the severity of the defects on the electrical performance can be well adjusted by focused ion beam/laser parameters. The successive assessment of the IR measurement (ILIT-Voc) revealed that this method can predict the losses in P (maximal power extractable) with a mean error of below 10%. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Authors with CRIS profile

Peter Kubis Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) Christoph Brabec Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET)

Involved external institutions

Bayerisches Zentrum für Angewandte Energieforschung e.V. (ZAE Bayern) DE Germany (DE) Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Vetter, A., Babbe, F.S., Hofbeck, B., Kubis, P., Richter, M., Heise, S.J.,... Brabec, C. (2016). Visualizing the performance loss of solar cells by IR thermography - an evaluation study on CIGS with artificially induced defects. Progress in Photovoltaics, 24(7), 1001-1008. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pip.2749

MLA:

Vetter, Andreas, et al. "Visualizing the performance loss of solar cells by IR thermography - an evaluation study on CIGS with artificially induced defects." Progress in Photovoltaics 24.7 (2016): 1001-1008.

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