Solutions >> SOLAR CELLS

SOLAR ENERGY
Solar energy is one of the most promising renewable energies. Its applications are broad, from powering small automated electronics which require low power delivery, to rural electrification that require to assemble several solar cells in solar panels to deliver larger quantities of energy. One of the newest applications of solar energy is its use on powering reverse osmosis devices in developing countries, hydrogen generation (called «solar hydrogen») and «solar cooling». Cell efficiency depends on the silicon dopant, light density and wavelength, optical thickness and surface texture. Efficiency of current solar cells is around 20% but some texturing processes can boost it up to 50%. The manufacturing difficulty of such processes implies a higher cost, making them prohibitive. Space and solar car racing applications demand the highest efficiency solar cells.

SURFACE TEXTURE CHARACTERIZATION
Solar cell quality control is done at the end of the production chain, testing each individual cell for efficiency in a solar air mass 1.5G simulator. Sensofar offers a solution for quality control and production control for some of the key steps during the manufacturing line. The non contact surface profilometer with dual technology PLu 2300 Optical Imaging Profiler offers the possibility to control silicon surface texture, roughness, pyramid statistical characterization and metal contact in few seconds.