Analysis of Activation Energies and Decay-time Constants of Potential-induced Degraded Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

A laboratory type PID-test system was used to measure degradation curves of the shunt resistance during the stress test. It was found that these curves feature typically an initial plateau without significant changes and a mono-exponential decay, both having temperature depended time constants: The plateau length as well as the decay time constant behave Arrhenius-like. Performing these degradation measurements under various temperatures enable the identification of PID relevant activation energies. A solar module compound made of industrial-type crystalline silicon solar cells was investigated and an activation energy of the decay was determined to (0,95 ± 0,14) eV.