Optimization CIGS/CIGS Tandem Solar Cells by Adjusting Layer Thickness Using Silvaco-TCAD

Boroomandnasab, Bahareh; Zolfaghari, Mohammad Hossein

doi:10.61186/jgeri.1.1.48

Optimization CIGS/CIGS Tandem Solar Cells by Adjusting Layer Thickness Using Silvaco-TCAD

Document Type : Research article

Authors

Bahareh Boroomandnasab ¹

Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari ²

¹ Department of Electrical and ICT, Faculty of Technical Engineering, Institute for Higher Education, ACECR, Khouzestan, IRAN.

² Instrument and Control Engineer at Well Services of Iran (WSI).

https://doi.org/10.61186/jgeri.1.1.48

Abstract

This research designed and simulated CIGS/CIGS back-to-back solar cells using Silvaco-Atlas software. We considered CIGS absorbing layer thickness and sub-cells as critical parameters to optimize the performance of the CIGS/CIGS tandem solar cell. The research comparatively examined the effect of different electrode metals, such as molybdenum, aluminum, titanium, and silver, on the efficiency. The electrical parameters of the best CIGS/CIGS tandem solar cell configuration were a short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 15.65 mA/cm², an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 1.86 V, a fill factor (FF) of 86.04%, and a conversion efficiency (η) of 27.12%. The optimal CIGS absorbing layer thickness of the top and bottom cells corresponding to the maximum conversion efficiency obtained were 0.17 and 6.3 μm, respectively. In contrast, the optimal thickness of the Cds layer was 0.04 µm. Silver had the best performance in connecting layers between several metals. The results can be used to develop low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells.

Graphical Abstract

Optimization CIGS/CIGS Tandem Solar Cells by Adjusting Layer Thickness Using Silvaco-TCAD

Highlights

Design and simulation of CIGS/CIGS back-to-back solar cells using Silvaco-Atlas software
Optimizing the performance of the CIGS/CIGS tandem solar cell
Studying the effect of electrode metal and comparison of different materials

Keywords

CIGS/CIGS tandem solar cell

Absorbing layer

Electrode

Cds

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The ethical issues, including plagiarism, informed consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, redundancy, have been completely observed by the authors.

Credit Authorship Contribution Statement

Bahareh Boroomandnasab: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Roles/Writing - original draft. Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Visualization, Writing - review & editing.

Bibliography

Bahareh Boroomandnasab was born in 1988, in Dezful, Iran. She received her Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degrees in Electronics Systems Engineering from Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran in 2011, 2013, and 2019, respectively. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Institute for Higher Education, ACECR, Khouzestan, IRAN. Her research interests include semiconductor device design, simulation and fabrication.

Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari He is currently an Instrument and Control Engineer at Well Services of Iran (WSI) company. He has four years of experience in the maintenance, troubleshooting, and repairing of electronic devices, with a proven ability to work efficiently both as a team player and independently due to working as a team member and individually. Furthermore, his interpersonal skills have been developed during his work as a lecturer of robotics and embedded programming; he has one article at prestigious conferences in the field of simulation of semiconductor devices.

Citation

B. Boroomandnasab, and M.H. Zolfaghari, "Optimization of CIGS/CIGS Tandem Solar Cells by Adjusting Layer Thickness Using ‎Silvaco-‎TCAD‎‎," Journal of Green Energy Research and Innovation, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 48-54, 2024.

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