Prof. Jeffery L.

Gray
grayj@purdue.edu
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana USA
Modeling an Simulation of
Photovoltaic Devices and Systems
NCN Summer School: July 2011
Lundstrom 2011
copyright 2011
2
This material is copyrighted by Jeffery L. Gray under
the following Creative Commons license.
Conditions for using these materials is described at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
Outline
1. Objectives of PV Modeling & Simulation
2. PV Device Modeling
3. Fundamental Limits
4. PV System Modeling (multijunction)
5. Detailed Numerical Simulation:
Under the Hood
3
Objectives of PV Modeling &
Simulation
1. Understanding of measured device operation
dependence of terminal characteristics (V
oc
, J
sc
, FF, ) on
Device structure (dimensions, choice of materials, doping,
etc.)
Material parameters (mobility, lifetimes, etc.)
2. Predictions of performance
Different operation conditions
Temperature, illumination conditions, etc.
Leads to improved
designs
4
Compact Models
based on measured terminal characteristics, lumped
element equivalent circuit models, and semi-analytical
models
q/2kT
q/kT
ln J
lnJ
02
ln J
01
Voltage V
Space Charge
Recombination
Dominated
Bulk and Surface
Recombination
Dominated
5
Compact Models
useful for representing
overall device operation (in
SPICE, for example)
provides some physical
insight into device
performance
( )
( ) ( ) 2
1 2
S S
q V IR kT q V IR kT
SC o o S sh
I I I e I e V IR R
+ +
= +
6
Analytic Models
based on relevant device physics (minority
carrier diffusion equation)
provides deeper insight into device operation and
design dependencies
device and material characterization methods
typically based on analytic models
limited by simplifying assumptions
7
Minority Carrier Diffusion
Equation:
2
2
( )
o
M
m
m m m
D G x
x

=

( ) 0
P
n W = ) (
d
d
eff F,
N
p
W p
D
S
x
p
=

BSF
BSF
d
( )
d
P
n
S n
n W
x D

=
P
+ kT qV
N N
N
n
x p e ) (
D
2
i
=
. e ) (
A
2
i kT qV
P P
N
n
x n =
Boundary Conditions:
Law of the Junction
Contacts
or
8
It is worth noting that the effective front
surface recombination velocity is not
independent of the operating condition
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+
(
(
(
(

+ +
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
1 cosh ) 1 e ( ) 1 (
sinh
cosh
) 1 e ( 1 cosh ) 1 (
F F
eff F,
p
N
p N
kT A qV
o
p
N
p
N
p
p
kT A qV
o
p
N
p N
L
W
G p s
S
L
W
L
W
L
D
s p
L
W
G S s
S
o
o

9
Special cases:
No grid (s=0):
Full metal (s=1)
Dark
Short-Circuit
V large (~Open-Circuit)
s
W D s S
S
N p

+
=
1
F
eff F,
F,eff F
S S =
s
W D s S
S
N p

+
=
1
F
eff F,
F,eff
S
F,eff F
S S =
10
But, I digress
MCDE
2
2
( )
M
m
m m
D G x
x

=

( ) 0
P
n W = ) (
d
d
eff F,
N
p
W p
D
S
x
p
=

BSF
BSF
d
( )
d
P
n
S n
n W
x D

=
P
+ kT qV
N N
N
n
x p e ) (
D
2
i
=
. e ) (
A
2
i kT qV
P P
N
n
x n =
Boundary Conditions:
Law of the Junction
Contacts
or
11
We can learn a lot from solving
the MCDE
hom
( ) ( ) ( )
sinh[( ) ] cosh[( ) ]
( )
ogeneous particular
M M M
M M m M M m
particular
M
m x m x m x
A x x L B x x L
m x
= +
= +
+
2
2
( )
M
m
m m
D G x
x

=

12
Effects of Base Lifetime on
Solar Cell Figures of Merit
13
Effects of BSF on Solar Cell
Figures of Merit
14
Spectral Response
15
What makes a good solar cell?
The key is the open-circuit voltage
Consider a solar cell with a perfect BSF and very thin
emitter, then
All recombination occurs in the base (minority carrier
lifetime is
m
)
At open-circuit, minority carrier concentration in the
base (width W) is constant wrt position and total
recombination must equal total generation
0 0
( ) ( )
W W
L
m
m
q R x dx q G x dx q W J

= =

16
What makes a good solar cell?
Combining the law of the junction at open-circuit
L m
J
m
qW

=
( )
2
1
OC
qV kT
i
B
n
m e
N
=
with the from the previous slide, yields
17
What makes a good solar cell?
2
ln
B m L
OC
i
N J
V kT
qn W

=
SC L
J J =
OC OC
OC
ln[ 0.72]
kT
V q V kT
q
FF
V kT q
+
=
+
OC SC
in
V FFJ
P
=
FF expression from: M. A. Green, Solar Cells: Operating Principles, Technology, and System
Applications, Prentice Hall, 1982.
18
What makes a good solar cell?
2
ln
B m L
OC
i
N J
V kT
qn W

=
Optically thick (light trapping)
Mechanically thin
High doping (trade-off with lifetime and n
i
{bandgap
narrowing})
Wide bandgap [low n
i
] (trade-off with J
L
)
Plus, assumptions of perfect BSF and thin emitter
Slight modifications for high-injection conditions and for other
dominant recombination mechanisms (Auger, radiative)
High V
OC
yields high FF and J
SC
, hence efficiency
19
What makes a good solar cell?
20
What makes a good solar cell?
21
Fundamental Limits
Ultimate Efficiency
1
But a single junction solar cell
does not use all the photons
efficiently.
1
W. Shockley, W. and H. J. Queisser, Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p-n Junction Solar Cells, J. of
Appl. Phys., 32(3), 1961, pp. 510-519.
J
SC
=J
L
FF=1
qV
OC
=E
G
22
Carnot Limit (thermodynamic)
5800
1 94.8%
(~ )
solar cell
Sun
K
T
T
= =
More detailed calculations put the limit at ~87% as the
number of junctions approaches infinity (~300K)
Efficiency actually peaks for a finite number of junctions
and approaches zero as the number of junctions
approaches infinity
23
Fundamental Limits
Gray, J.L.;et. al., "Peak efficiency of multijunction photovoltaic systems," Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
(PVSC), 2010 35th IEEE , pp.002919-002923, 20-25 June 2010
24
System Modeling
Modeling and analysis of
multijunction PV systems can
benefit from a different view of
the efficiency.
, ,
1
OC j j S Cj
junctons
in
V FF J
P
=

LIGHT
25
System Efficiency
=
, , sys ultimate photon ic i i V i C i
FF
1
, ,
1
, ,
G i gen i
q
i
G i gen i
q
E I
E I
=

photon
: efficiency of photon absorption

ic
: electrical interconnect efficiency

V,i
: voltage efficiency (qV
OC
/E
G
)

C,i
: collection efficiency
Achievement of a PV system efficiency of greater than 50%
requires that the geometric average of these six terms
(excluding ) must exceed
( )
1
6
0.5 0.891 =
Gray, J. L.; et.al. , "Efficiency of multijunction photovoltaic systems," Photovoltaic Specialists Conference,
2008. PVSC '08. 33rd IEEE , pp.1-6, 11-16 May 2008.
26
Detailed Numerical Simulation
based on more rigorous device physics
numerical solution circumvents need for simplifying
assumptions, i.e. allows spatially variable parameters
provides predictive capability
o Terminal Characteristics (I-V, SR, C-V, etc.)
provides diagnostic capability
o Can examine internal parameters (energy band,
recombination, etc.)
Ability to test simplifying assumption in analytic modeling
27
Historical Overview of Solar Cell
Simulation at Purdue (not comprehensive)
SCAP1D (Lundstrom/Schwartz ~1979)
x-Si solar cells (1D)
SCAP2D (Gray/Schwartz ~ 1981)
x-Si solar cells (2D)
PUPHS (Lundstrom, et. al. mid-1980s)
III-V heterostructure solar cells (1D)
TFSSP (Gray/Schwartz mid-1980s)
Amorphous Si solar cells (1D)
ADEPT (Gray, et. al. late 1980s to present)
A Device Emulation Program and Tool(box)
Arbitrary heterostructure solar cells (CIS, CdTe, a-Si, Si, GaAs,
AlGaAs, HgCdTe, InGaP, InGaN, )
Fortran version (1D, on nanoHUB )
C versions (1D, 2D -- 3D capable, but not extensively used)
MatLab toolbox (under development 1D, 2D, 3D)
28
Simulation Inputs
solar cell structure: composition, contacts, doping,
dimensions
material properties: dielectric constant, band gap,
electron affinity, other band parameters, absorption
coefficients, carrier mobilities, recombination
parameters, etc.
operating conditions: operating temperature, applied
bias, illumination spectrum, small-signal frequency,
transient parameters
29
Simulation Inputs
The ADEPT input file consists of a series of diktats:
*title simple example
mesh nx=500
layer tm=2 nd=1.e17 eg=1.12 ks=11.9 ndx=3.42
+ nv=1.83e19 nc=3.22e19 up=400. un=800.
layer tm=200 na=1.e16 eg=1.12 ks=11.9 ndx=3.42
+ nv=1.83e19 nc=3.22e19 up=400. un=800.
genrec gen=dark
i-v vstart=0 vstop=.1 dv=.1
solve itmax=100 delmax=1.e-6
30
Simulation Outputs
the numerical solution provides the value of the potential,
V, and the carrier concentrations, p and n at every point
within the device, from which one can compute and
display:
the terminal characteristics, i.e. I-V, cell efficiency,
spectral response, etc. [predictive]
a microscopic view of any internal parameter for
example, recombination rate (i.e. losses) [diagnostic]
31
Sample output: terminal
characteristics
32
Sample output:
recombination rate
33
Detailed Numerical Simulation
( )
p p p p
J q V V kT p =

( )
V q p n N = +
p p
p
J q G R
t

| |
=
|
\ .

n n
n
J q G R
t

| |
=
|
\ .

( )
n n n n
J q V V kT n = + +

Under the Hood

Semiconductor Equations
Operating conditions, material properties, and other
physics are in the B.C. and T, , N, G, R
p
, R
n
,
p
,
n
, V
p
,
and V
n
.
34
Numerical Solution
Transform differential equations into difference
equations on a spatial grid yields a large set of non-
linear difference equations.
Use a a generalized Newton method to solve results
in a iterative sequence of matrix equations
v = [p n V]; F(v
k
) is the set of difference equations
J(v
k
) is a sparse block tri-diagonal matrix of order 3n , where n
is the number of mesh points (1D)
In 2D (n x m grid), J(v
k
) is a sparse block tri-diagonal matrix of
order 3nm
1
( ) ( )
k k k
J v v F v
+
=
35
Sparseness of 1D Jacobi matrix
36
Sparseness of 2D Jacobi matrix
37
Questions
38