Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell Reliability Research. Investigation of Accelerated Stress Factors and Failure/Degradation Mechanisms in Terrestrial Solar Cells. Sixth Annual Report

摘要

This annual report presents the results of an ongoing research program into the reliability of terrestrial solar cells. The main focus of the research is to identify failure/degradation modes affecting solar cells through accelerated stress testing and to identify them to basic physical, chemical, and metallurgical phenomena. During the period covered in this report the program has concentrated on developing the techniques for determining the reliability attributes of thin film amorphous silicon solar cells. This involved two major activities which were carried on simultaneously: (1) the use of step stress test methods to define a preliminary stress test schedule, and (2) the development of procedures which assure electrical characterization repeatability. The resulting preliminary stress test schedule involves considerably less test time than used for crystalline cells. The report discusses the use of a filtered diode array to repeatably set illumination levels. (ERA citation 11:008535)