The computer program PC1D is widely used for modeling crystalline solar cells. This paper describes a new version of the program which takes advantage of the latest graphical environments of personal computers to offer improved visualization of cell design and operation, simpler comparison of experimental data with simulation results, greatly increased calculation speed, and improved models for generation and recombination effects. We demonstrate the use of some of these features to explore the importance of trap-assisted tunneling at heavily doped junctions in material with low carrier lifetime, as is often encountered in thin polycrystalline silicon cells.
Free-carrier absorption can be a significant parasitic optical absorption process in solar cells, Although estimates of its influence have been made in the past, it has nor previously been incorporated into a numerical semiconductor device semiconductor and studied ill conjunction with other effects. A finite element model of free-carrier absorption is presented that incorporates the dependency of the absorption coefficient on the carrier concentration profile, including the change in carrier density that occurs across a single finite element. This model has been implemented in the semiconductor modelling program PC1D for Windows, and used to simulate the effects of free-carrier absorption on several types of silicon solar cells. It was found to have only a very small effect on cell efficiency, but can significantly affect the long-wavelength spectral response, which has implications for device characterization. Empirical equations for the behaviour of free-carrier absorption in a variety of materials are presented. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The computer program PC1D is widely used for modeling crystalline solar cells. This paper describes a new version of the program which takes advantage of the latest graphical environments of personal computers to offer improved visualization of cell design and operation, simpler comparison of experimental data with simulation results, greatly increased calculation speed, and improved models for generation and recombination effects. We demonstrate the use of some of these features to explore the importance of trap-assisted tunneling at heavily doped junctions in material with low carrier lifetime, as is often encountered in thin polycrystalline silicon cells.
A new, improved, version of the computer program PC1D is now available which is designed for the WindowsTM environment. PC1D is widely used to model the internal operation of crystalline solar cells. This paper presents a brief history of PC1D, followed by an illustration of the new features available in version 4, with an emphasis on how these features make it not only possible to analyze solar cells, but to extend into the regime of design. This is followed by a discussion of the unique finite-element numerical method used in PC1D and how this approach could be extended to two or three dimensions
