Numerical Simulation and Optimization of Performances of a Solar Cell Based on CdTe

Abstract

This article has as an aim the study and the simulation of the photovoltaic cells containing CdTe materials, contributing to the development of renewable energies, and able to feed from the houses, the shelters as well as photovoltaic stations… etc. CdTe is a semiconductor having a structure of bands with an indirect gap of a value of 1,5 eV at ambient temperature what means that photon wavelength of approximately 1200 nm will be able to generate an electron-hole pair. One speaks about photogeneration. We will lay the stress, initially, on the essential design features of a photovoltaic module (the open-circuit tension, the short-circuit current, the fill factor, and the output of the cell), our results was simulated with the SCAPS computer code in one dimension which uses electrical characteristics DC and AC of the thin layers heterojunctions. The results obtained after optimization are: VCO = 0.632V, Jsc = 39.1 mA/cm2, FF=82.98 % and the output energy of conversion is 18.26%.Optimization is made according to the temperature and the wavelength.

Keywords: Solar cell containing CdTe materials, temperature, quantum yield, absorption, reflexion, transmission, SCAPS