Manufacturing of solar cells, a complex process.

Today's craze for new energies is boosting several activity sectors, in particular the photovoltaic cells sector. Optimizing the still low productivity, requires a selection of the best manufacturing techniques, as well as of the best materials. The objective is to minimize the reflections and to propagate the light through the material, where it must be absorbed and converted into electric charges.

A unique system with a high acquisition dynamic range

The measurement of the wafers intended for photovoltaic cells is a new application for the REFLET-180. This new application allows comparing production techniques according to a new criterion. The illumination beam's angle of incidence can be set in a 180 degrees range, this allows to make both transmission and reflection measurements on the wafers. With a motorized double goniometer, REFLET-180 will measure the diffusion on the whole sphere area around the sample. The data is standardized in BSDF measurement format. The detection in spectral mode allows to get a characterisation based on the wavelength, and to link the result with sun radiance distribution.

In this same spectral mode, the transmission measurements in the infrared allow to identify the transmittance of the wafer with these electromagnetic radiations. The instrument is perfectly fit for this type of measurement, when the angle of incidence variation allows simulating the performances according to the different positions of the sun during the day. The study of this interaction between light and material allows selecting the better adapted materials and techniques for the manufacturing of solar panels.