AFORS-HET 3.

0: FIRST APPROACH TO A
TWO-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATION OF SOLAR CELLS


R. Stangl (1)(*), T. Geipel (1), M. Dubiel (1), M. Kriegel (2), Th. El-Shater (3), and K. Lips (1)
(1) Hahn-Meitner-Institute Berlin, Kekulstr.5, D-12489 Berlin
(2) Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
(3) Electronics Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt
(*) Tel: +49/30/8062-1312, Fax: +49/30/8062-1333, E-mail: stangl@hmi.de

ABSTRACT: We describe the new version 3.0 of AFORS-HET, a numerical computer simulation program for
modeling the electronic behavior of thin-film or wafer-based solar cells. This version is the first step from a one-
dimensional towards a two-dimensional (2D) solar cell simulation. Two approaches have been implemented: A rather
simple 2D network approach, describing majority carrier transport problems only, and the rigorous solution of the
semiconductor equations in two dimensions, describing minority and majority carrier transport adequately together
with the corresponding boundary conditions. Unfortunately, the rigorous approach still suffers from convergence
problems. The current capabilities of the two 2D calculation approaches are demonstrated. We present selected
results on the simulation of the newly developed Buried Grid RECASH (Rear Contact Crystalline/Amorphous Silicon
Heterojunction) Solar Cell [1].
Keywords: Simulation, Thin Film, c-Si, a-Si, Software, two dimensional (2D)


1 INTRODUCTION

There is an increasing necessity for two or even
three-dimensional (2D, 3D, respectively) solar cell
simulation. Most design features implemented in state-of-
the-art high efficiency Silicon wafer based solar cells can
only be described through 2D or even 3D approaches,
e.g. point or stripe contacts or the concept of placing both
contacts at the rear side of the solar cell (back contact
solar cells). In the field of thin-film solar cells, even the
standard series interconnection, which is widely used in
thin-film modules, is essentially a 2D problem.
Furthermore, a variety of novel contact designs are
introduced, which have 2D or even 3D features, like for
example all kind if interdigitated contact grids, or the
CSG approach [2].
Of course, there is already a variety of 2D and 3D
semiconductor programs commercially available, like
DESSIS, COMSOL Multiphysics, or Crosslight APSYS.
However, most of these programs are complex, cost
intensive and have to be adapted to the needs of
photovoltaics. So far, none of the mentioned programs
allows the simulation of specific solar cell
characterization methods, which are widely used within
the solar cell community.
We want to bridge this gap by developing a simple
and easy to use 2D simulation program, which is
specifically adapted to the needs of photovoltaic.
AFORS-HET 3.0 is the first step towards this aim.

2 CAPABILITIES OF AFORS-HET

2.1 AFORS_HET 2.2 (old version)
AFORS-HET solves the one dimensional
semiconductor equations (Poissons equation and the
transport equation for electrons and holes) with the help
of finite differences under different conditions: (a)
equilibrium mode, (b) steady-state mode, (c) steady-state
mode with small additional sinusoidal perturbations, (d)
simple transient mode, that is switching external
quantities instantaneously on/off, (e) general transient
mode, that is allowing for an arbitrary change of external
quantities. The generation of electron-hole pairs can be
described by Lambert-Beer absorption or by taking
incoherent and coherent internal multiple reflections into
account. Radiative band-to-band recombination, Auger
recombination and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination
can be considered and super-bandgab and sub-bandgap
generation/recombination can be treated. Interface
currents are modelled to be driven either by drift-
diffusion or by thermionic emission. The metallic
contacts can be modelled as Schottky or Schottky-
Bardeen metal/semiconductor contacts or as
metal/insulator/semiconductor (MIS) contacts.
Thus, the internal cell characteristics, such as band
diagrams, local generation/recombination rates, carrier
densities, cell currents, and phase shifts can be
calculated.
Furthermore, a variety of solar cell characterisation
methods can be simulated: current-voltage characteristics
(I-V), quantum efficiency, transient or quasi-steady-state
photo conductance, transient or quasi steady-state surface
photovoltage, spectral resolved steady-state or transient
photo- and electroluminescence, impedance/admittance,
capacitance voltage, capacitance-temperature and
capacitance-frequency spectroscopy, and electrically
detected magnetic resonance.
At the time being, approximately 600 AFORS-HET
downloads have been recorded, coming mainly from
universities and research institutions worldwide. The
current download rate (August 2007) is four downloads
per week. So far, six versions have been published at
major solar energy conferences [3-8] with the version 1.2
being awarded at the 31
st
IEEE conference in Lake
Buena Vista, USA, January 2005 [5]. AFORS-HET has
intensively been used by various groups within the
amorphous/crystalline Silicon (a-Si:H/c-Si) solar cell
community, mainly in order (i) to evaluate maximum
obtainable efficiencies for a-Si:H/c-Si solar cells, (ii) to
derive design criteria for those solar cells, and (iii) to
develop and quantify characterization methods for
monitoring the a-Si:H/c-Si interface recombination. For
more information about AFORS-HET and also about
simulation studies performed with AFORS-HET visit our
website:
www.hmi.de/bereiche/SE/SE1/projects/aSicSi/AFORS-HET.

22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 3-7 September 2007, Milan, Italy
82
2.2 AFORS_HET 3.0 (new version)
The 1D program AFORS-HET 2.2 has been extended
towards a new version, AFORS-HET 3.0, which is
additionally able to describe solar cells in 2D. Two
approaches in order to perform 2D calculations have
been implemented: A rather simple 2D network
approach, describing majority carrier transport problems
only, and the rigorous solution of the semiconductor
equations in two dimensions, describing minority and
majority carrier transport adequately together with the
corresponding boundary conditions.
However, at the time being, there are still some
discretisation-dependent convergence problems if
pursuing the second approach. AFORS-HET will be
further developed. If the convergence problems within
the second 2D approach (2D solution of the
semiconductor equations) are solved, a complete 2D
version of AFORS-HET 3.0 shall be launched.


3 2D SIMULATION WITHIN AFORS-HET

The current capabilities of the two new 2D
calculation modes of AFORS-HET 3.0 are demonstrated,
showing selected results on the simulation of a new
Silicon wafer based high efficiency solar cell concept,
the Buried Grid RECASH (Rear Contact
Crystalline/Amorphous Silicon Heterojunction) Solar
Cell [1].


Figure 1: Sketch of the cross section of a Buried Grid
RECASH solar cell [1] and a corresponding symmetry
element.

This back contact solar cell essentially consists of an
electrically insulated Al grid, contacting the p-doped
crystalline c-Si absorber (Silicon wafer) and buried
within a rear side deposited, n-doped emitter of
amorphous Silicon, a-Si:H(n) [1].
In order to perform a two dimensional solar cell
simulation, it is helpful to divide the solar cell into
symmetry elements and solve the problems under
investigation only within this symmetry element using
appropriate boundary conditions. A possible symmetry
element of this solar cell is sketched in Fig. 1. Due to
symmetry reasons, there are no internal cell currents
across the symmetry lines (symmetric boundary).
Specifying a fixed 2D array of grid points of arbitrary
spacing (discretisation) within this symmetry element,
the internal cell parameters are calculated at the discrete
positions given by the grid points.

3.1 2D network simulation
The 2D network simulation of AFORS-HET uses an
equivalent circuit model to describe the majority carrier
transport within the symmetry element (see Fig. 2). The
grid points of the symmetry element are interconnected
with transport resistances, R
T
, which are calculated from
the semiconductor properties, when the two neighboring
grid points under consideration are placed within the
same material (Fig. 2). If two neighboring grid points are
placed within different materials, a local p/n junction is
assumed when the two semiconductor materials are of
opposite doping type, and a contact resistance, R
c
, can be
specified when both semiconductor materials are of the
same doping type. The local p/n junctions within the
symmetry element are described by a simple one-diode
model (reverse saturation current I
0
, diode ideality factor
n
1
, photocurrent I
ph
, shunt resistance R
sh
are interface
input parameters) (see Fig. 3. Furthermore, a contact
resistance to the metal contacts can be specified.


Figure 2: Corresponding RECASH symmetry element
using the 2D network approach of AFORS-HET.


Figure 3: Network elements used within the 2D network
approach of AFORS-HET: (left) contact of two
semiconductor materials of opposite doping type, (right)
contact of two semiconductor materials of the same
doping type and contact to a metal boundary.

Applying a voltage between the specified metallic
contacts, the program solves for the internal potentials at
the grid points. Thus the internal cell currents and the total
currents into the metallic boundaries and, therefore, also
complete I-V characteristics of the solar cell can be
calculated.
The intension of this rather simple approach is to get a
rough approximation on 2D effects using a limited amount
of input parameters and to study the influence of additional
series resistances due to 2D contacting schemes.

3.2 Solving the 2D semiconductor equations
Efforts have been undertaken in order to solve the
semiconductor equations (Poissons equation and the
transport equation of electrons and holes) in two
dimensions under equilibrium and steady-state
R
TA

R
TB

n
1

I
0

I
ph
R
Sh

material A
material B
V
ext

R
C
R
TAy

R
TAx

R
TBx

R
C

material B
metal
contact
material A
ligh
Al
2
O
3
isolation
a-Si:H(n) emitter
c-Si(p) absorber
SiN
x
Al absorber contact
Al emitter contact

symmetric
boundary
symmetric
boundary
I=0 I=0
c-Si(p) absorber
a-Si(n):H emitter
metal contact
transport
resistance
contact resistance
one-diode-model
metal contact
22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 3-7 September 2007, Milan, Italy
83
conditions. Within an arbitrarily rectangular shaped
space region, consisting of different semiconductors (for
example, the symmetry element of Fig. 4), these
equations are solved at the grid points in order to yield
the local potentials and the local electron and hole
concentrations within the symmetry element. Radiative
band-to-band recombination, Auger recombination and
Shockley-Read-Hall recombination is considered, super-
bandgap and sub-bandgap generation / recombination can
be treated. Interface currents are modeled to be driven
either by drift diffusion or by thermionic emission. The
boundaries of the symmetry element can be modeled as
metallic Schottky or Schottky-Bardeen boundaries, as
insulator boundaries, as metal/insulator boundaries or as
symmetric boundaries.
Figure 4: Corresponding RECASH symmetry element
using the AFORS-HET approach to solve the 2D
semiconductor equations on a rectangular grid.

Fig. 4 shows a typical discretisation scheme for the
symmetry element of the RECASH solar cell, together
with the appropriate boundary conditions: In order to
describe the electrically insulated absorber contact (plus
pole), which is buried in the a-Si:H(n) emitter, a metal
boundary towards the c-Si(p) absorber and a
metal/insulator boundary towards the a-Si:H(n) emitter
was used. The grid points are located at the intersections
of the grid.


4 CURRENT 2D PERFORMANCE OF AFORS-HET

In order to demonstrate the current state-of-the-art of
both implemented 2D modes within AFORS-HET 3.0,
some screenshots describing a typical 2D input / output
of the program are shown.

4.1 Input of a 2D structure
Fig. 5 shows a general 2D input window of
AFORS-HET. In order to specify the rectangular shaped
space region (the symmetry element) in which the cell
parameters under investigation are to be solved, an
arbitrary number columns and rows have to be defined,
which are needed for the construction of the symmetry
element. The properties of the resulting blocks, internal
interfaces, and boundaries can then be specified (see
Fig. 5). A different semiconductor can be appointed at
each block, using the same semiconductor material input
parameter window as in the 1D versions of AFORS-
HET. The same situation also applies for the internal
interfaces and for the boundaries. At the time being, the
incident light is always assumed to be perpendicular to
the specified structure as shown in Fig. 5, i.e. only
normal incidence of the incoming light can be
considered.
Fig. 6 shows the corresponding input specifications
of the RECASH symmetry element, in case of using the
AFORS-HET approach to solve the 2D semiconductor
equations.


Figure 5: Screenshot of the general 2D input within
AFORS-HET


Figure 6: 2D input specifications of the RECASH
symmetry element, in case of using the AFORS-HET
approach to solve the 2D semiconductor equations.

4.2 Output of 2D cell parameters


Figure 7: Screenshot of the 2D output of the internal cell
parameters under equilibrium conditions, modeling the
RECASH symmetry element. Errors in the solution are
indicated by arrows.

metal/insulator
boundary(positive pole)
metal boundary
(positive pole)
insulator boundary
metal boundary
(negative pole)
symmetric
boundary
a-Si:H(n)
c-Si(p)
column
block
row
light
boundary
interface
c-Si(p)
light
symmetric
boundary
no interface
c-Si(p)
a-Si:H(n)
insulator
boundary
SiN
Schottky
flatband
boundary
Al/c-Si
plus pole
symmetric
boundary
MIS
boundary
Al/Ox/a-Si
plus pole
Schottky
flatband
boundary
Al/a-Si
minus pole
400 m 15 m
TE interface
a-Si/c-Si
m
275
m
0.03
22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 3-7 September 2007, Milan, Italy
84
A typical 2D AFORS-HET output window is
demonstrated in Fig. 7, showing the two dimensional
internal cell parameters (internal band diagrams, internal
cell currents, internal carrier concentrations and internal
generation / recombination rates) under equilibrium
conditions (no illumination, no external voltage) for the
RECASH symmetry element in case of using the
AFORS-HET approach to solve the 2D semiconductor
equations.
As can be seen from Fig. 7, there is still an error in
the discretisation of the boundary conditions: The
displayed solution of the internal cell parameters under
equilibrium conditions is ill behaved, as the there is an
artificially high recombination rate at the corner grid
point located at the end of the a-Si:H(n) emitter. This
leads to internal cell currents unequal to zero. This error
is dependent on the chosen discretisation of the
symmetry element and has to be fixed before the
AFORS-HET approach to solve the 2D semiconductor
equations is fully functional.

4.3 Typical 2D calculation time
At the moment, the program is not optimized for
minimum calculation time. Assuming a typical
discretisation with 50x50 grid points, a solution will take
approximately 2 seconds for the 2D network approach
and 2 minutes in case of solving the 2D semiconductor
equations. If a reduced grid size of 10x30 grid points is
used, also the second approach is solved within some
seconds.


5 SIMULATION OF RECASH SOLAR CELL

5.1 RECASH efficiency potential
In order to estimate the efficiency potential of our
novel Silicon wafer based high efficiency concept, the
Buried Grid RECASH Solar Cell, a one dimensional
approximation had to be done, as the approach to solve
the 2D semiconductor equations was not always
convergent: The absorber contact (Al-grid) was not
modeled explicitly, assuming a fictive front contact with
surface recombination velocity of 30 cm/s (due to the
SiN passivation). The corresponding AFORS-HET 2.2
simulations demonstrated a RECASH efficiency
potential of >24%, see [1].

5.2 Influence of the Al-grid finger distance
In order to study the influence of the Al-grid finger
distance on the solar cell performance, the simple 2D
network approach can be used. The Al-grid finger
distance was varied, while keeping the fraction of
absorber metallization constant (6 %). The one-diode
input parameters of the 2D network program can be
obtained from a 1D reference solar cell. In this specific
case, a fit of the one-diode model to the published I-V
characteristic of a Sanyo HIT solar cell [9] was
performed, in order to extract the corresponding input
parameters. The resulting simulated I-V characteristics of
the AFORS-HET 2D network program measurement
I-V_2D_network are shown in Fig. 8. Obviously, an
Al-grid finger distance larger than 400 m is already
causing a significant loss in the filling factor, assuming a
270 m thick c-Si(p) wafer with a resistivity of 1 cm
and a 30 nm thick a-Si:H(n) emitter with a resistivity of
0,125 cm.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
0
10
20
30
40

1D reference
50m
100m
250m
400m
500m
750m
1mm
2mm
3mm
4mm
5mm
j

[
m
A
/
c
m
2
]
V [mV]
decreasing
Al-grid finger
distance

Figure 8: simulated RECASH I-V characteristics,
according to the 2D network program of AFORS-HET,
as a function of the Al-grid finger distance

In order to extract the resulting series resistance of
the RECASH solar cell structure as a function of the
Al-grid finger distance, the simulated I-V characteristics
of Fig. 8 were once more fitted to a one-diode model, as
is shown in Fig. 9.


1 2 3 4
0,00
0,25
0,50
0,75
1,00
1,25
1,50

s
e
r
i
e
s

r
e
s
i
s
t
a
n
c
e

R
S


[

]
gridfinger distance d [mm]

Figure 9: Series resistance of the I-V characteristics of
Fig. 8 due to the 2D majority carrier transport as a
function of the Al-grid finger distance.


6 SUMMARY

A new version AFORS-HET is presented, offering a
simple 2D network approach in order to model the 2D
behavior of solar cell structures. The approach to solve
the 2D semiconductor equations within AFORS-HET is
not fully functional at present.


7 REFERENCES

[1] R.Stangl, M.Bivour, E.Conrad, I.Didschuns, L.Korte,
K.Lips, and M.Schmidt, this conference, 1AO.6.4
[2] P.A.Basore, Proc. IEEE-29, New Orleans, USA,
2002, 49-52
[3] A.Froitzheim, R.Stangl, M.Kriegel, L.Elstner,
W.Fuhs, Proc. WCPEC-3, Osaka, Japan, May 2003
[4] R.Stangl, A.Froitzheim, M.Kriegel, T.Brammer,
S.Kirste, L.Elstner, H.Stiebig, M.Schmidt, W.Fuhs,
Proc. PVSEC-19, Paris, France, June 2004, 1497
[5] R.Stangl, M.Kriegel, S.Kirste, M.Schmidt, W.Fuhs,
Proc. IEEE-31, Lake Buena Vista, USA, January
2005
22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 3-7 September 2007, Milan, Italy
85
[6] R.Stangl, M.Kriegel, M.Schmidt, Proc. PVSEC-20,
Barcelona, Spain, June 2005
[7] R.Stangl, M.Kriegel, D.Schaffarzik, M.Schmidt,
Proc. PVSEC-15, Shanghai, China, October 2005
[8] R.Stangl, M.Kriegel, M.Schmidt, Proc. WCPEC-4,
Hawaii, USA, May 2006
[9] E.Maruyama, A.Terakawa, M.Taguchi, Y.Yoshimine,
D.Ide, T.Baba, M.Shima, H.Sakata, M.Tanaka,
Proceedings WCPEC-4, (2006), Hawaii, USA, 1455


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