Artificial lab degradation effects in n-type modules – Surface polarization (PID-p).

Photovoltaic modules comprising n-type silicon solar cells can be affected by the so-called polarization type of the PID-effect (PID-p). In this work, the PID-p behavior of our Q.ANTUM NEO n-type solar cell structure with passivating rear-side contact was investigated. The cells and modules were exposed to worst-case conditions under field and laboratory environments and were found to be PID-p resistant. It could be shown that only in case of artificial laboratory test conditions using high electric potential or current injection at elevated temperature, the investigated cell structure can be affected by PID-p with a power loss of about 25 %_rel.. We show that under realistic field conditions, a power degradation due to PID-p will not occur. This is due to the fact that even a low light irradiation for short time was found to prevent PID-p and even recover the cells that were previously degraded by PID-p under artificial lab conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]