Light current-voltage measurements of single, as-grown, nanowire solar cells standing vertically on a substrate

Nanowire based solar cells hold promise for terrestrial and space photovoltaic applications. However, to speed-up and further continue with nanowire solar cell development, quick and reliable characterization tools capable of evaluating single nanowire performance of nanowires still standing on the substrate are necessary. Here, we present the use of a light emitting diode (LED) based setup, which combined with a nanoprobe system inside a scanning electron microscope, enables on-wafer, single, nanowire solar cell optoelectronic characterization. In particular, we study the I–V characteristics of single nanowire solar cells under in situ illumination and correlate the results with those of electron beam induced current measurements. Further, the LED setup enables the study of nanowire solar cell under varied incident power. We believe that this approach will enable rapid development of single and tandem nanowire based solar cells as well as other nanowire based optoelectronic devices.