A Project Report on

“Solar Cell Simulation Using TCAD”

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Bachelor of Technology In
Electronics & Communication Engineering

Under Guidance of Dr. Satish Kumar Singh

Sir Head of Department
Prof. Deepak Nagaria By

Student Name:

Vaibhav Sagar

(2004331056)

Utkarsh Mishra

(2004331054)

Vaibhav Mishra (2004331055)

Department of Electronics & Communication

Engineering Bundelkhand Institute of
Engineering & Technology
(An Autonomous Institute)

Jhansi (U.P.) India -

284128 Session 2022-2023
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report “Solar Cell Simulation Using TCAD” is the bonafide
work of “Vaibhav Sagar, Utkarsh Tripathi and Vaibhav Mishra” who carried out
the project work under my supervision for the fulfilment of project based learning.

Dr. SATISH KUMAR SINGH

SUPERVISOR

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

Bundelkhand Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jhansi

Submitted for Semester Project based learning on November 2022

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION 4

2. DEVICE STRUCTURE AND SIMULATION 5

3. CODE 6

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 9

5. GRAPHS AND OUTCOMES OF THE CODE 13

6. CONCLUSION 15

7. LIST OF REFERENCES 16
INTRODUCTION

A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy
of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is
a physical and chemical phenomenon.  It is a form of photoelectric cell, defined as a device
[1]

whose electrical characteristics, such as current, voltage, or resistance, vary when exposed to

light. Individual solar cell devices are often the electrical building blocks of photovoltaic
modules, known colloquially as solar panels. The common single junction silicon solar cell
can produce a maximum open-circuit voltage of approximately 0.5 volts to 0.6volts.[2]
Solar cells are described as being photovoltaic, irrespective of whether the source
is sunlight or an artificial light. In addition to producing energy, they can be used as
a photodetector (for example infrared detectors), detecting light or other electromagnetic
radiation near the visible range, or measuring light intensity.

The photovoltaic effect was experimentally demonstrated first by French physicist Edmond

Becquerel. In 1839, at age 19, he built the world's first photovoltaic cell in his father's
laboratory. Willoughby Smith first described the "Effect of Light on Selenium during the
passage of an Electric Current" in a 20 February 1873 issue of Nature. In 1883 Charles
Fritts built the first solid state photovoltaic cell by coating the semiconductor selenium with a
thin layer of gold to form the junctions; the device was only around 1% efficient.

Solar cells are typically named after the semiconducting material they are made of.
These materials must have certain characteristics in order to absorb sunlight. Some cells are
designed to handle sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface, while others are optimized
for use in space. Solar cells can be made of a single layer of light-absorbing material (single-
junction) or use multiple physical configurations (multi-junctions) to take advantage of
various absorption and charge separation mechanisms.
DEVICE STRUCTURE
Discription

The n-type silicon is made by including atoms that have one more electron in their outer level
than does silicon, such as phosphorus. Phosphorus has five electrons in its outer energy level, not
four. It bonds with its silicon neighbor atoms, but one electron is not involved in bonding.
Instead, it is free to move inside the silicon structure.

When all the holes are filled with electrons in the depletion zone, the p-type side of the
depletion zone (where holes were initially present) now contains negatively charged ions,
and the n-type side of the depletion zone (where electrons were present) now contains
positively charged ions. The presence of these oppositely charged ions creates an internal
electric field that prevents electrons in the n-type layer to fill holes in the p-type layer.

When sunlight strikes a solar cell, electrons in the silicon are ejected, which results in the
formation of “holes”—the vacancies left behind by the escaping electrons. If this happens in
the electric field, the field will move electrons to the n-type layer and holes to the p-type
layer. If you connect the n-type and p-type layers with a metallic wire, the electrons will
travel from the n-type layer to the p-type layer by crossing the depletion zone and then go
through the external wire back of the n-type layer, creating a flow of electricity.
TCAD CODE

# (c) Silvaco Inc., 2021

# CREATE SOLAR CELL IN ATHENA
go athena
line x loc=0.00 spac=1
line x loc=10 spac=1
line y loc=0.00 spac=0.05
line y loc=0.25 spac=0.02
line y loc=1 spac=0.1
line y loc=50 spac=10
init silicon [Link]=1.0e14 orientation=100
# deposit oxide coating
deposit oxide thickness=0.05 div=1
# implant n+ layer
implant phos dose=1e15 energy=30
# drive-in
diffuse time=10 temp=900
# extract n layer junction depth
extract name="junc_depth" xj material="Silicon" \
[Link]=1 [Link]=0.1 [Link]=1
# form contact
etch oxide right p1.x=8
deposit aluminum thickness=0.1 div=3
etch aluminum left p1.x=8
# Reflect to get complete structure
structure mirror right
# set electrodes for ATLAS
electrode name=cathode x=10
electrode name=anode backside
structure outf=solarex01_0.str
# FIRST ATLAS RUN TO FIND SHORT CIRCUIT CURRENT AND OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE
go atlas
mesh infile=solarex01_0.str

# set contact material to be opaque

material material=Aluminum [Link]=1000
material material=Silicon taun0=1e-6 taup0=1e-6
# set light beam using solar spectrum from external file
beam num=1 [Link]=10.0 [Link]=-2.0 angle=90.0 [Link]=[Link]
# saves optical intensity to solution files
output [Link]
models conmob fldmob consrh print
solve init
solve previous
# get short circuit current
log outf=solarex01_0.log
solve b1=1
extract name="short_circuit_current" max(abs(i."cathode"))
save outf=solarex01_1.str
# get open circuit voltage
solve init
solve previous
contact name=cathode current
solve icathode=0 b1=1
extract name="open_circuit_voltage" max(abs(vint."cathode"))
save outf=solarex01_2.str
tonyplot solarex01_2.str -set solarex01_2.set
# SECOND ATLAS RUN FOR SPECTRAL RESPONSE
go atlas
mesh infile=solarex01_0.str
# set contact material to be opaque
material material=Aluminum [Link]=1000
material material=Silicon taun0=1e-6 taup0=1e-6
# set monochromatic light beam for spectral analysis
beam num=1 [Link]=10.0 [Link]=-2.0 angle=90.0
# saves optical intensity to solution files
output [Link]
models conmob fldmob consrh print
# spectral response

solve init
solve previous
solve previous b1=0
log outf=solarex01_2.log
solve b1=1 beam=1 lambda=0.3 wstep=0.025 wfinal=1.0
tonyplot solarex01_2.log -set solarex01_3.set
# The "Available photo current" accounts for absorption in semiconductor
regions only.
# Users interested in the overall absorption need to calculate EQE as:
# EQE=I anode / I Source Photo Current * Absorption
extract init inf="solarex01_2.log"
extract name="IQE" curve(elect."optical wavelength", \
-(i."anode")/elect."available photo current") outf="solarex01_IQE.dat"
extract name="EQE" curve(elect."optical wavelength", \
-(i."anode")/elect."source photo current") outf="solarex01_EQE.dat"
extract name="EQE2" curve(elect."optical wavelength", \
-(i."anode")/elect."source photo current"*elect."Absorption")
outf="solarex01_EQE2.dat"
tonyplot solarex01_IQE.dat -overlay solarex01_EQE2.dat -set solarex01_1.set
# THIRD RUN FOR I-V CHARACTERISTICS
go atlas
mesh infile=solarex01_0.str
# set contact material to be opaque
material material=Aluminum [Link]=1000
material material=Silicon taun0=1e-6 taup0=1e-6
# set light beam using solar spectrum from external file
beam num=1 [Link]=10.0 [Link]=-2.0 angle=90.0 [Link]=[Link]
# saves optical intensity to solution files

solve vcathode=-0.01 vstep=-0.01 vfinal=-1*$open_circuit_voltage

name=cathode
log off
solve init
solve previous
solve b1=1
log outfile=solarex01_4.log
solve vcathode=-0.01 vstep=-0.01 vfinal=-1*$open_circuit_voltage \
name=cathode b1=1
log off
tonyplot solarex01_3.log -overlay solarex01_4.log -set solarex01_4.set
extract init infile="solarex01_4.log"
extract name="Jsc (mA/cm2)" $short_circuit_current*1e08*1e03/20
extract name="Power" curve(v."cathode", (v."cathode" * i."cathode" *(-
1))) \
outf="solarex01_P.dat"
extract name="Pmax" max(curve(v."cathode", (v."cathode" * i."cathode" *(-
1))))
extract name="V_Pmax" [Link] from curve(v."cathode",
(v."cathode"*i."cathode"))\
where [Link]=(-1)*$"Pmax"
extract name="Fill Factor"
($"Pmax"/($"short_circuit_current"*$"open_circuit_voltage"))
extract name="intens" max(probe."inten")
extract name="Eff" ($Pmax/($"intens"*20/1e8))
tonyplot solarex01_P.dat
quit

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

This example shows how a solar cell structure can be simulated in Athena and Atlas. The
structure used and the results obtained are similar to those in the book "VLSI Technology"
by Sze. The example file consists of:

 Construction of solar cell doping and geometry in Athena

 Simulation of short circuit current
 Simulation of open circuit voltage
 Simulation of spectral response
 Simulation of illuminated and unilluminated IV characteristics

The initial part of the example file uses Athena to create a typical solar cell structure. The
device used is a diode of n+ over a p substrate. The junction depth is approx 0.25um. A
single contact is placed in the center of the structure. Typical solar cells will have this
structure repeated many times across a large area. Here advantage is taken of the reflecting
boundary conditions at the edges of the structure to simulate just one cathode contact.

The process consists of an implant and diffusion followed by electrode formation. The
electrode statement is then used to define the electrodes for Atlas.

The first Atlas run in the file simulates the response of the device to illumination by the solar
spectrum. The material parameters for the structure are set at the start of the file . The
imaginary refractive index (which is directly related to the absorption coefficient) of the
metal is defined to a high value to ensure it is opaque to the incident radiation.
The illumination by solar spectrum is defined by the beam statement. The origin and angle of
incidence need to be defined. An angle of 90 degrees means normal incidence from the top.
The parameter [Link] points to an external file that contains a list of wavelengths vs.
intensity. The file '[Link]' contains data for the Air Mass Zero Solar Spectrum. The
intensity in the file can be considered just as relative intensity between the wavelengths.
It is possible to store the optical intensity of the illumination by specifying output [Link] at
any time before saving a structure file. The photogeneration rate will appear in the solution
structure file by default.
The short circuit current is the current when the anode and cathode are shorted. This is
simulated by illuminating the device with zero voltage on all contacts. The B<n> parameter
of the solve statement sets the power of the light. An extract statement is used to measure the
short circuit current. An extracted target like this can be used for optimization or as targets in
VWF.

The system is reset using the command 'solve init' for the second test. To simulate open
circuit voltage, the current through the device is forced to be zero. The device is illuminated
and the voltage sustained across the device is measured.

To set the current to zero it is first necessary to set one electrode to have current boundary
conditions. This is performed on the cathode using the current parameter of
the contact statement. Simulating with the device illuminated and icathode=0 gives the open
circuit voltage. This voltage is measured using the extract statement.

Note the use of the syntax vint."cathode" as opposed to v."cathode" . This is necessary

when you want to extract the voltage directly on the semiconductor contact as opposed to the
applied bias.

The structure stored at this point can be plotted to show contours of photogeneration, carrier
concentration or potential. The photogeneration contours show the effect of the opaque
cathode contact. It is also possible to show ray tracing of light beams in this file. However in
our example normal illumination was used so there are no refractive effects to see. A similar
run using non-normal incidence and a narrower illumination spot would show the ray tracing
inside the device.

The second Atlas run in this file is used to simulate the spectral response of the solar cell. At
the start the definition of material parameters and opaque metal contact is repeated. For this
test a different light beam is required. A beam origin and angle of incidence are set as before.
The wavelength or spectrum file is not defined since the wavelength is to be varied in this
test.

The short circuit case is considered, so zero biases are set on both electrodes. The
parameter lambda of the solve statement is used to set the wavelength of the incident light.
The range of wavelength used was 300nm to 1000nm.
Plotting the resulting log file it is possible to see how the cathode current varies with
wavelength. Setting a plot vs wavelength of source photocurrent (current available in the
light beam), available photocurrent (current available for collection), and actual cathode
current can show how the device behaves. The losses between source and available
photocurrent are caused by reflections and transmission. This dominates the losses at all
except the shortest wavelengths. The losses from available photocurrent to the actual
simulated cathode current are due to recombination. These are very low except at the
extremes.

This simulation has produced all the data needed to create a plot of efficiency vs light
frequency as used in the reference. All that is needed is to transform the data in TonyPlot.

On the y-axis the quantum efficiency is needed. This is defined as (current in/current out). In
TonyPlot the following function is needed:

Source Photocurrent/cathode current .

This plot shows the same functional form as the reference material. The peak efficiency falls
off quickly at low energies and more slowly at higher energies.

The third simulation is a plot of illuminated and un-illuminated I-V characteristics, allowing
the designer to choose a suitable load line for the device under normal operating conditions.
A number of useful parameters are also extracted from this curve using the extract statement.
Finally the extracted plot of external power versus cathode voltage is displaye To load and
run this example, select the Load button in DeckBuild > Examples. This will copy the input
file and any support files to your current working directory. Select the Run button in
DeckBuild to execute the example.

GRAPHS AND OUTCOMES OF THE CODE

CONCLUSION

Solar power is an immense source of directly useable energy and ultimately creates other
energy resources: biomass, wind, hydropower and wave energy.
Most of the Earth's surface receives sufficient solar energy to permit low-grade heating of
water and buildings, although there are large variations with latitude and season. At low
latitudes, simple mirror devices can concentrate solar energy sufficiently for cooking and
even for driving steam turbines.
The energy of light shifts electrons in some semiconducting materials. This photovoltaic
effect is capable of large-scale electricity generation. However, the present low efficiency of
solar PV cells demands very large areas to supply electricity demands.
Direct use of solar energy is the only renewable means capable of ultimately supplanting
current global energy supply from non-renewable sources, but at the expense of a land area
of at least half a million km

Solar energy is a clean, pollution free and renewable source of energy. Development of this
source of energy requires an accurate detailed long-term knowledge of the potential taking
into account seasonal variations. The region of the earth between the latitudes of 401N and
401S is generally known as the solar belt and this region is supposed to be with an abundant
amount of solar radiation. Karnataka being located between latitudes 111400N and 181270N
has a geographic position that favours the harvesting and development of solar energy.
Karnataka receives global solar radiation in the range of 3.8–6.4kWh/m2. Global solar
radiation during monsoon is less compared to summer and winter because of the dense cloud
cover. The study identifies that coastal parts of Karnataka with the higher global solar
radiation are ideally suited for harvesting solar energy.
REFRENCES

 [Link]
 [Link]
highschool/chemmatters/past-issues/archive-2013-2014/how-
[Link]
 [Link]