Photon imaging system for detecting defects in photovoltaic devices, and method thereof

A system comprising:

• a current source coupled to at least one photovoltaic device and configured to supply current to the at least one photovoltaic device,
• a radiation detector configured to detect emitted photon radiations from the at least one photovoltaic device and output a signal corresponding to the detected emitted photon radiations,
• an optical filter disposed between the at least one photovoltaic device and the radiation detector and configured to transmit only the photon radiations having energy equal to a band gap of an absorber layer of the at least one photovoltaic device to the radiation detector;
• and
• a processor device coupled to the radiation detector and configured to receive the signal corresponding to the detected emitted photon radiations, process the signal to generate one or more two-dimensional photon images, and analyze the variation in electroluminescence intensity distribution of one or more two-dimensional photon images to determine at least one defect in the at least one photovoltaic device.

A non-transitory computer readable media to enable a processor device to determine at least one defect in at least one photovoltaic device, the computer readable media comprising:

• routines for transmitting only photon radiations having energy equal to a band gap of an absorber layer of the at least one photovoltaic device, from the at least one photovoltaic device to a radiation detector via an optical filter disposed between the at least one photovoltaic device and the radiation detector;
• routines for detecting the emitted photon radiations from the at least one photovoltaic device via the radiation detector,
• routines for outputting a signal corresponding to the detected emitted photon radiations from the radiation detector to the processor device;
• routines for processing the signal corresponding to the detected emitted photon radiations via the processor device to generate one or more two-dimensional photon images;
• and
• routines for analyzing variation in electroluminescence intensity distribution of the one or more two-dimensional photon images to determine at least one defect in the at least one photovoltaic device.