An Italian research centre involved in R&D activities on photovoltaic technology has developed an innovative apparatus able to simultaneously measure the current and the total reflectance of a solar cell, by using a collimated monochromatic beam from a lamp source. Organisations operating in the optics, photovoltaic or semi-conductor field are sought for technical cooperation, license or manufacturing agreement.

An Italian research centre involved in R&D activities on photovoltaic technology has developed an innovative apparatus able to simultaneously measure the current and the total reflectance of a solar cell.

The simultaneous current and reflectance measurements are made at different incidence angles from 10° to about 80°, by using a well-collimated monochromatic beam from a lamp source.

The knowledge of the reflectance properties of the cell at the different incidence angles makes possible to know the effective absorbed light by the cell, and then the internal spectral response at monochromatic light and as function of incidence angle. The source of light can also be a laser. The wavelength of the incident light has to be as much as possible near the optical band gap of the bulk semiconductor, in order to have a current in the cell that is sensitive to the incidence angle of the beam.

The simultaneous measurement of photocurrent and reflectance of a solar cell allows obtaining the internal spectral response with a precision better than that obtained by separate measurements of the two quantities.

Innovative Aspects:

The advantages of this new method are that it requires a monochromatic beam that has to be inclined on the cell surface. The method, therefore, is simpler than the one based on the spectral response measurement.

Main Advantages:

1) The simultaneous optical and electrical testing of any photovoltaic device

2) Spectral-response measurements under angle-resolved illumination

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• salvatore.amicoroxas@portici.enea.it