Study of simulations of double graded InGaN solar cell structures

TL;DR

This study compares different InGaN solar cell configurations using simulations, revealing how indium composition affects efficiency, open-circuit voltage, and short-circuit current, with the highest efficiency at 60% indium in a well structure.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of various InGaN solar cell structures and identifies optimal indium compositions for maximum efficiency using simulation data.

Findings

Increasing indium content boosts short-circuit current and efficiency.

Open-circuit voltage decreases with higher indium content.

Maximum efficiency occurs at 60% indium in the well structure.

Abstract

The performances of various configurations of InGaN solar cells are compared using nextnano software. Here we compare a flat base graded wall GaN/InGaN structure, with an InxGa1-xN well with sharp GaN contact layers, and an InxGa1-xN structure with InxGa1-xN contact layers, i.e. a homojunction. The doping in the graded structures are the result of polarization doping at each edge (10 nm from each side) due to the graded structure, while the well structures are intentionally doped at each edge (10 nm from each side) equal to the doping concentration in the graded structure. The solar cells are characterized by their open-circuit voltage, V_oc, short circuit current, I_sc, solar efficiency, and energy band diagram. The results indicate that an increase in I_sc and efficiency results from increasing both the fixed and the maximum indium compositions, while the V_oc decreases. The maximum efficiency is obtained for the InGaN well with 60% In.