Effect of Photoconductive Properties of SiNx Passivation Film on Anti-PID Performance of Photovoltaic Cells and Modules

We investigated the impact of the photoconductive properties of crystalline silicon solar cells, having a SiNx passivation film, on potential induced degradation (PID) using voltage-corona (V-Q) and self-adjusting stead state (SASS) tests. The experimental results show that the conductivity of SiNx on the cell surface was gradually enhanced by the increase in refractive index, which effectively decreased the accumulated charge on the cell surface. Thus, changes in the conductivity of SiNx were found to be the cause of the different PID performance of the modules. The present work provides a theoretical basis for solving the PID problem of solar modules and power stations, and the exploration of the V-Q and SASS techniques provides a new, convenient method and corresponding basis for testing the PID performance of solar cells during industrial production. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.24.2.17171