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Defects of a-Si Thin-Film Solar Cells Detected by Transmission Photothermal Radiometric Imaging

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Abstract

The photothermal radiometry (PTR) technique is an effective non-destructive testing technique for detecting defects in materials. In this paper, a piece of commercial amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film solar cells with some artificial mechanical defects has been investigated by the transmission PTR imaging system. Firstly, a simplified analytical expression of a normalized transmission PTR signal was employed to characterize defects. Secondly, the corresponding experimental system has been set-up for obtaining several thermal images of the sample. Thirdly, different kinds of defects have been analyzed and identified by the thermal images. The results show that not only the artificial mechanical defects on the sample can be detected, but also some defects occurring in the manufacturing process can be detected by the transmission PTR imaging system.

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Acknowledgments

The support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61379013), Central-University Basic Research Funds of UESTC (No. ZYGX2012Z006), and the Excellent Doctoral Academic Support Program (No. YBXSZC20131021) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Optoelectronic Information, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China

    Laijun Yan, Chunming Gao, Binxing Zhao, Qiming Sun, Lixian Liu & Huiting Huan

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  1. Laijun Yan
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  2. Chunming Gao
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  3. Binxing Zhao
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  4. Qiming Sun
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  5. Lixian Liu
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  6. Huiting Huan
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Correspondence to Chunming Gao.

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Yan, L., Gao, C., Zhao, B. et al. Defects of a-Si Thin-Film Solar Cells Detected by Transmission Photothermal Radiometric Imaging. Int J Thermophys 36, 829–834 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-014-1811-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-014-1811-1

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