Article,
Method for contact resistivity measurements on photovoltaic cells and cell adapted for such measurement
USPTO, (1986)
Abstract
A method is disclosed for scribing at least three grid contacts of
a photovoltaic cell to electrically isolate them from the grid contact
pattern used to collect solar current generated by the cell, and
using the scribed segments for determining parameters of the cell
by a combination of contact end resistance (CER) measurements using
a minimum of three equally or unequally spaced lines, and transmission
line modal (TLM) measurements using a minimum of four unequally spaced
lines. TLM measurements may be used to determine sheet resistance
under the contact, R.sub.sk, while CER measurements are used to determine
contact resistivity, .rho..sub.c, from a nomograph of contact resistivity
as a function of contact end resistance and sheet resistivity under
the contact. In some cases, such as the case of silicon photovoltaic
cells, sheet resistivity under the contact may be assumed to be equal
to the known sheet resistance, R.sub.s, of the semiconductor material,
thereby obviating... Patent number: 4628144 Filing date: Jun 7, 1983
Issue date: Dec 9, 1986 Inventor: Dale R. Burger Assignee: California
Institute of Technology U.S. Classification 136/256; 29574; 136/290;
324/64; 357/68 International Classification H01L 3104; G01R 2714
