Investigation and optimization of ultrathin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells by using silvaco-TCAD tools

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2021-08, Vol.32 (16), p.21525-21538
• Main Authors: Boukortt, Nour El I., AlAmri, Amal M., Bouhjar, Feriel, Bouhadiba, Kheira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorbers; Aluminum oxide; Carrier transport; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Conduction bands; Copper indium gallium selenides; Investigations; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optimization; Photovoltaic cells; Solar cells; Thickness
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-021-06661-4

This paper presents an investigation of ultrathin Cu (In 1− x Ga x ) Se 2 solar cell which was calibrated from the fabricated cell using Silvaco-TCAD tools. Carrier transport mechanism and conduction band alignment at the CdS/CIGS interface shows a large influence on PV parameters. The influence of the absorber trap density on the electrical characteristics of the single junction cell was investigated under AM 1.5G one-sun (100 mW/cm 2 ) illumination. Further simulations quantify significant improvements in cell efficiency while using a thin Al 2 O 3 material as a rear passivation layer. In addition, the impact of the backside pitch size, opening width, absorber layer doping, and thickness on cell performance is investigated to enhance the cell efficiency. To evaluate our work, the electrical characteristics of the optimized cell were compared to the fabricated cells.