Morphological and electrical defects in polycrystalline silicon solar cells are distinguished by scanning electron acoustic microscopy (SEAM) and electron beam induced current (EBIC) techniques, respectively. It was found that while some defects are both morphologically and electrically detectable, some are predominantly only either electrical or morphological in nature. Combining both SEAM and EBIC is therefore an ideal approach as the two techniques can provide complementary information on both the morphological and electrical manifestation of the defects. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.