Keithley Instruments will broadcast a free, web-based seminar titled “Understanding Electrical Characterization of Solar Cells” on Thursday, June 30, 2011. This one-hour seminar will discuss the different measurement techniques that can be used to characterize solar cells and other photovoltaic devices. Most of the research into photovoltaic devices currently underway is in the areas of improving the conversion efficiency and lowering the cost of manufacturing. In order to verify that conversion efficiency has improved, a photovoltaic device must be electrically characterized.

This web seminar will explore the solar cell test tools and techniques necessary to characterize these devices accurately. Electrical characterization is essential to determine how to make the cells as efficient as possible with minimal losses. A variety of important device parameters can be extracted from current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements, including output current, conversion efficiency, maximum power output, doping density, resistivity, etc. This seminar is recommended for students, engineers, and engineering managers who already have a basic understanding of photovoltaic devices.

The presentation will cover a variety of topics

• How to measure short-circuit current (Isc), open circuit voltage (Voc), maximum power output (Pmax), and conversion efficiency
• How to select the most appropriate instrumentation for performing these measurements
• Best practices for connecting instrumentation to the device under test

Dave Rose, the seminar presenter, is a senior staff applications engineer at Keithley Instruments, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio, which is part of the Tektronix test and measurement portfolio. Dave joined Keithley in 1987 and has spent roughly half of his career in design engineering and the other half in applications engineering.