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arXiv · 1906.03962

Coupled Optoelectronic Simulation and Optimization of Thin-Film Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Tom H. Anderson·Benjamin J. Civiletti·Peter Monk·Akhlesh Lakhtakia
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Abstract

A design tool was formulated for optimizing the efficiency of inorganic, thin-film, photovoltaic solar cells. The solar cell can have multiple semiconductor layers in addition to antireflection coatings, passivation layers, and buffer layers. The solar cell is backed by a metallic grating which is periodic along a fixed direction. The rigorous coupled-wave approach is used to calculate the electron-hole-pair generation rate. The hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin method is used to solve the drift-diffusion equations that govern charge-carrier transport in the semiconductor layers. The chief output is the solar-cell efficiency which is maximized using the differential evolution algorithm to determine the optimal dimensions and bandgaps of the semiconductor layers.

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Tom H. Anderson, Benjamin J. Civiletti, Peter Monk, Akhlesh Lakhtakia. 2019-06-10. Coupled Optoelectronic Simulation and Optimization of Thin-Film Photovoltaic Solar Cells. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2020.109242

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