How to Evaluate IV Characteristics of Solar Cells

+ Precision Source / Measure Units (SMU)

Evaluating IV characteristics of solar cells using a source / measure unit

Accurate characterization of solar / photovoltaic cells requires the combined capabilities of a current source, a voltage source, a current meter, and a voltage meter. Necessary measurements for solar cells include IV parameters and characteristics, including short circuit current, open circuit voltage, and maximum power point. Pulsed measurements are crucial for testing solar cells to prevent device self-heating from distorting the measurement results. Solar cell measurement typically requires 4-wire measurements (remote sensing) to eliminate the voltage error caused by test lead residual resistance.

Making measurements through a 2-wire connection can result in significant errors when the measured resistance is comparable to the test leads. A 4-wire measurement uses one pair of leads to force current and the other pair of leads to monitor voltage. This method eliminates cable resistance effects, measuring only the voltage drop across the device under test. In addition, the 4-wire measurement scheme keeps the voltage between the sense points at a specified voltage, ensuring that the solar cell is characterized strictly under the specified measurement conditions.

Solar cells IV characterization solution

Characterizing the IV properties of solar cells requires extensive current and voltage measurement capabilities across all four measurement quadrants. The Keysight solar cells IV characterization solution enables accurate, high-resolution current versus voltage measurements to measure the IV parameters and characteristics of photovoltaic cells accurately and easily, including short circuit current, open circuit voltage, and maximum power point. The solution delivers 6.5-digit sourcing and measurement resolution, along with source and measure resolution down to 10 fA and 100 nV.

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