The aim of this work is to investigate the electrical uniformity of monolithic polycrystalline silicon solar cells prepared by various process techniques. By a series of experiments such as P and Al impurity gettering and silicon nitride passivation, a new conclusion is that the application of P and Al gettering as well as silicon nitride passivation enhances the electrical uniformity of small area solar cells diced from the same polycrystalline silicon solar cells, even if impurity gettering is not effective when the dislocation density is above a threshold value of about 10(6) cm(-2). The experiments give us some hunts that when we cut large area polycrystalline silicon solar cells into small pieces needed for application, we should modify production process slightly. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.