A. Kaminski et al., INFRARED CHARACTERIZATION OF HOT-SPOTS IN SOLAR-CELLS WITH HIGH-PRECISION DUE TO SIGNAL TREATMENT PROCESSING, Solar energy materials and solar cells, 51(3-4), 1998, pp. 233-242
In this paper we show how to improve greatly the resolution of IR ther
mography by using two different signal treatment methods: a static tre
atment and a dynamical treatment. This signal processing allows the st
udy of 100 cm(2) cells under low-forward or reverse-polarization condi
tions. Static and dynamical methods have both good resolutions: static
has the advantage of being fast, and dynamical method does not need a
ny reference image nor cooling system. We have shown that IR thermogra
phy is an interesting method for investigating shunts in solar cells.
Thermal maps and I-V characterization of the hot spots show that the o
rigin and the behavior of the shunts are varied and their influence on
the efficiency is probably more important than what is usually though
t. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.