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Numerical Investigation of Perovskite and u-CIGS Based Tandem Solar Cells Using Silvaco TCAD Simulation

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Abstract

In this paper, a numerical model is designed to evaluate the performances of a two-terminal tandem Perovskite-CIGS solar cell. Tandem perovskite solar cells (TPSCs) are a type of device that has attracted great attention for their scalability, low cost, and high efficiency. In order to validate the investigated model, the obtained data have been compared with the fabricated cell. Since a tandem cell is quite complex, to obtain realistic results, the study was conducted in several steps by optimizing first the perovskite solar cell, then performing ultrathin CIGS solar cell, and finally the tandem structure. Intrinsic organic material Methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) was used as an absorber layer and its thickness has been optimized. The effect of adding an anti-reflective coating (ARC) on the top of ITO front contact on PSC device performance was studied too. The cell efficiency of the optimized perovskite cells was achieved by about 16.13%. For a good substrate, the ultrathin CIGS (u-CIGS) solar cell was calibrated to the fabricated cell characteristics. Finally, a two-terminal perovskite/CIGS tandem device was successfully simulated with an efficiency of up to 20.84%.

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Acknowledgements

This project was partially supported by Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) under project codes: PN20-35EE-03. This research work also was partially supported by Semiconductor Laboratory (GE01/08), Kuwait University. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electronics and Communication Engineering Department, Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Road N. 7, Doha, Kuwait

    Nour El I. Boukortt, Danah AlAjmi, Kawthar Bulayyan & Nawar AlMutairi

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche e Informatiche, Scienze Fisiche e Scienze Della Terra, University of Messina, 98166, Messina, Italy

    Salvatore Patanè

  3. Physics Department, College of Science and Art, King Abdulaziz University, POB 344, Rabigh, 21911, Saudi Arabia

    Amal M. AlAmri

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  1. Nour El I. Boukortt
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Correspondence to Nour El I. Boukortt.

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Boukortt, N.E.I., Patanè, S., AlAmri, A.M. et al. Numerical Investigation of Perovskite and u-CIGS Based Tandem Solar Cells Using Silvaco TCAD Simulation. Silicon 15, 293–303 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-01960-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-01960-9

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