Proceedings of Online School on Fundamentals of Emerging Solar Cells (PVSCHOOL)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.pv school.2021.004
Publication date: 29th January 2021
Different methods can be used to characterize basic material and device properties of photovoltaic cells. Some methods have been developed specifically for a certain materials system, i.e. crystalline silicon pn-junctions, but are often also applied to other solar cells materials and structures, such as chalcopyrite, kesterite or halide perovskite-based cells. To obtain meaningful results on a given object of study, the assumptions going into the different methods should be kept in mind and validated. Also, the application of complementary methods is advantageous, as it allows for consistency checks for the conclusion to be drawn. In particular carrier lifetimes and doping densities play important (and different) roles for PV devices and are often difficult to be extracted from characterization of (non-ideal) materials and devices. This will be illustrated by comparing chalcopyrite and halide perovskite solar cells using complementary techniques such as (steady-state) photoluminescence quantum efficiency, transient spectroscopy, as well as admittance-based analysis.