Development of a Setup for Electroluminescence Measurement

Abstract

As technology advances cost reduction and process optimization is very important. The technology of electroluminescence is growing but it is still quite expensive especially for developing scientific laboratories that are carrying out research in photovoltaics. Electroluminescence requires a little period of time to provide a wide range of information about the photovoltaic module being measured. The approach used in the course of this thesis is the process of using a commercial camera to carry out dark electroluminescence. The measurements carried out on different photovoltaic modules (both multicrystalline and monocrystalline) at different camera settings such as the variations of the f-number, shutter speeds and at different short circuit current and the results gotten from this were used to experimentally prove the Rau’s reciprocity theorem. It is indeed proven that solar cells/ modules with a higher open circuit voltage (Voc) has a higher electroluminescence quantum efficiency EQE. For every 60mV increase of the open circuit voltage the electroluminescence quantum efficiency increases by a factor of ten. This project is able to give an experimental approach Rau reciprocity theorem and also creating an affordable set up for electroluminescence measurements.