Degradation of Edge‐Defined Film‐Fed Silicon Glass–Glass Modules on Florida Rooftop After 22 Years

Thin silicon () adoption can provide significantly lower cost. Kerfless technologies thin wafers while preventing material from being wasted. Understanding how this family of processing influences module reliability is important. A set four edge‐defined film‐fed growth (EFG) modules a ten‐module system in Florida measured after 22 years exposure. Power loss rates 0.58–0.78% year −1 are for three modules, rate 1.32% with severe delamination and corrosion. Short‐circuit current degrades between 10.7% 13.1% all modules. The losses primarily optical recombination based; however, series shunt resistance effects play non‐negligible role. Pre‐existing exist but exacerbated via degradation. Optical short‐circuit due part to encapsulant yellowing. Electroluminescence (EL) images display the on bulk quality by clearly showing lines alternating brightness along wafer length. To authors’ knowledge, first article displaying suns– data, effective lifetime versus excess carrier density EL EFG silicon‐based