UV-Stability of Industrial PERC, SHJ and TOPCon Solar Cells

Recent reports suggest a pronounced susceptibility of modern cell architectures to degradation induced by ultraviolet irradiation (UVID). We investigate the stability of bifacial PERC, SHJ and TOPCon solar cells produced in-house and by industry by subjecting the bare cells to a UV dose of 60 kWh/m². This treatment is comparable to almost 40 years of continuous UV-irradiation of the AM 1.5G spectrum with module glass and UV-blocking encapsulation. The loss in pseudo efficiency of all probed industry cells remains below 3%<inf>rel</inf>, for TOPCon even below 1%<inf>rel</inf>. When subjected to accelerated tests probing for light and elevated temperature induced degradation (LeTID), all industrial cells retain their high quality within a maximum deviation of 1%<inf>rel</inf> from the original pseudo efficiency. Our study shows that pathways to produce LeTID- and UVID-resistant solar cells based on modern technologies exist and are already known to some cell manufacturers.