Multistage performance deterioration in n-type crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules undergoing potential-induced degradation

This study addresses the behavior of n-type front-emitter (FE) crystalline-silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) modules in potential-induced degradation (PID) tests with a long duration of up to 20 days. By PID tests where a negative bias of −1000 V was applied at 85 °C to 20 × 20-mm2-sized n-type FE c-Si PV cells in modules, the short-circuit current density (Jsc) and the open-circuit voltage (Voc) started to be decreased within 10 s, and strongly saturates within approximately 120 s, resulting in a reduction in the maximum output power (Pmax) and its saturation. After the saturation, all the parameters were almost unchanged until after 1 h. However, the fill factor (FF) then started to decrease and saturated again. After approximately 48 h, FF further decreased again, accompanied by a reduction in Voc. The first degradation is known to be due to an increase in the surface recombination of minority carriers by the accumulation of additional positive charges in the front Si nitride (SiNx) films. The second and third degradations may be due to significant increases in recombination in the space charge region. The enhancement in recombination in the space charge region may be due to additional defect levels of sodium (Na) introduced into the space charge region in the p–n junction. We also performed recovery tests by applying a positive bias of +1000 V. The module with the first degradation completely recovered its performance losses, and the module with the second degradation was almost completely recovered. On the contrary, the modules with the third degradation could not be recovered. These findings may improve the understanding of the reliability of n-type FE c-Si PV modules in large-scale PV systems.