WCPEC-aSi ageing_journal final.pdf (402.39 kB)
Download fileTowards modelling realistic ageing rates of amorphous silicon devices in operational environments
conference contribution
posted on 2019-05-20, 12:42 authored by Jiang Zhu, Martin BlissMartin Bliss, Tom BettsTom Betts, Ralph GottschalgThis paper presents a method to de-convolute the annealing and degradation processes of
amorphous silicon devices. This will allow modelling realistic outdoor operation. Six devices
underwent 14000 hours indoor light exposure at different and varying thermal conditions. The
devices are exposed to light at variable temperatures between 25ºC and 85ºC under illumination as
well as annealed in the dark. The temperature set-points were altered several times during the test to
gain insights on how the balance between light induced degradation and thermal annealing is shifted.
Measurements show that the degradation level is largely determined by the device’s operating
temperature and both processes balance themselves out without consideration of device history.
This is explained by the proposed modelling approach based on the defect pool model. The key
parameters in the proposed modelling approach are the effective activation energies for degradation
and annealing.
Funding
This work has been supported by a joint UK–India initiative in solar energy through a joint project ‘Stability and Performance of Photovoltaics (STAPP)’ funded by the Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme (contract no: EP/H040331/1) and by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in India.
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