IMPROVING OPTICAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY BY CHANGING THE THICKNESS OF CIGS SOLAR CELLS USING NANOTECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE

Amir Nory; Haneafa Najem; Omar Alsaif

doi:10.30572/2018/KJE/160332

Authors

Amir Nory Lecturer, Department of Electronic Technical, Technical Institute, Northern Technical University, Mosul, Iraq
Haneafa Najem Lecturer, Medical Technical Institute, Northern Technical University, Mosul, Iraq
Omar Alsaif Assist. Prof., Computer Technical Engineering Dept, Technical Engineering College for Computer and Artificial intelligence, Northern Technical University, Mosul, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30572/2018/KJE/160332

Keywords:

CIGS, Solar cells, Quantum efficiency, Silvaco, Thickness, Wavelength

Abstract

Nowadays, it is widely recognized that solar PV is one of the favorited sustainable energy options globally. Recently, new technological methods have been developed based on the use of thin films and nanostructures with the aim of reducing the solar cell cost and increasing its efficiency. This work includes simulation of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 nanostructured solar cell. Silvaco program was used with TCAD technology to obtain (ZnO/CdS/CIGS) tandem solar cell model. The thickness of three layers was changed for optical wavelength range (300 –1200) nm, then the optical quantum efficiency was studied and compared with the measured model. The maximum value of quantum efficiency (80%) was obtained when thickness of ZnO layer was doubled, while the maximum value of this efficiency was obtained (74.5%) when reducing the thickness of CdS layer to one-tenth. As for CIGS layer, by increasing its thickness three times, the optimum quantum efficiency obtained is (82.08%). Several peaks are obtained in each case for different values of wavelengths which are determined from (450-750) nm. The best results reached were relied upon to implement an optimal model for a solar cell with several values of maximum efficiency for different wavelengths, as the highest quantitative efficiency (92%) has been achieved

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