NREL Invention Speeds Solar Cell Quality Testing for Industry (Fact Sheet)

A solid-state optical system, invented by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), measures solar cell quantum efficiency (QE) in less than a second, enabling a suite of new capabilities for solar cell manufacturers. QE is a measurement of how cells respond to light across the solar spectrum, but traditional methods for measuring QE had been too slow, limiting its application to small samples pulled from the production line and analyzed in laboratories. NREL's technique, commercialized by Tau Science as the FlashQE(TM) system, uses a solid-state light source, synchronized electronics, and advanced mathematical analysis to parallel-process QE data in a tiny fraction of the time required by the current method, allowing its use on every solar cell passing through a production line