Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
We use a variety of different numerical simulation tools to address the complexity of III‑V multi-junction solar cells.
Our Simulation Infrastructure Includes:
- Transfer matrix solver for optical simulation of multi-layer systems
- Opto-electrical semiconductor simulation with Sentaurus TCAD for analyzing the generation and recombination of charge carriers, charge carrier transport at heterojunctions, tunneling processes and photon recycling
- Electrical network model to optimize contact structures (shading, series resistance losses)
- Detailed-balance calculations of new solar cell concepts, including determining the ideal band gap combination for various numbers of sub-cells, temperatures and reference spectra
- Calculating the yield of multi-junction solar cells for various locations, taking into account the influence of the material combination on spectral fluctuations over the course of a day and a year
A comprehensive material database is essential for all simulations. This includes a wide range of III‑V compounds, as well as other typical semiconductors, dielectrics and metals.