Making I V and C V Measurements on Solar/Photovoltaic Cells

Making I V and C V Measurements on Solar/Photovoltaic Cells

A variety of measurements are made to determine the electrical characteristics of PV cells. Characterizing the cells often involves measuring the current and capacitance as a function of an applied DC voltage. The measurements are usually done at different light intensities and temperature conditions. Important device parameters can be extracted from the current-voltage (I V) and capacitance-voltage (C V) measurements, such as the conversion efficiency and the maximum power output. Electrical characterization is also important to determine losses in the PV cell. Essentially, electrical characterization is needed to determine ways to make the cells as efficient as possible with minimal losses. This application note describes the basic principles of PV cells, connections of the cell in the measurement circuits, forward and reverse I V measurements, C V measurements, measurement considerations, and sources of error.■