Efficient tool flow for 3D photovoltaic modelling

Abstract

Performance predictions and optimisation strategies in current nanotechnology-based photovoltaic (PV) require simulation tools that can efficiently and accurately compute optical and electrical performance parameters of intricate 3D geometrical structures. Due to the complexity of each type of simulation it is often the case that a single package excels in either optical or electrical modelling, and the other remains a bottleneck. In this work, an efficient tool flow is described in order to combine the highly effective optical simulator Lumerical with the excellent fabrication and electrical simulation capability of Sentaurus. Interfacing between the two packages is achieved through tool command language and Matlab, offering a fast and accurate electro-optical characteristics of nano-structured PV devices. Program summary Program title: Interfacing_Lumerical_Sentaurus Catalogue identifier: AEWK_v1_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEWK_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen’s University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 4525 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 23729 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: TCL, Matlab, Lumerical FDTD Solutions Version 8.7.3, TCAD Sentaurus Version j-2014.09. Computer: A multi-core, high ram workstation is recommended for running Lumerical Solutions and TCAD Sentaurus. The scripts provided here were run on a HPZ820 workstation with 2 X Intel Xeon E5-2680 2.70Ghz processors and 128GB DDR3-1600 RAM. Operating system: Linux. Number of processors used: Matlab scripts can be parallel processed. The scripts have been tested on 16 CPUs (32 Threads). RAM: For the TCL files, minimal RAM is needed. For the matlab script, it depends on the structure. The scripts have been tested using an upper limit of 128 GB. Classification: 4, 6, 18. Nature of problem: Create a tool flow that models complex fabrication techniques , as well as accurate and efficient optical and electrical simulations for photovoltaic simulations. Solution method: Code is provided to interface between Lumerical and Sentaurus using TCL and Matlab script. Running time: Depends on structure complexity and number of processors used.