Design and Analysis of AlGaAs/GaAs/Si Multi
junction Solar cell using PC1D
P. Sathya
School of Electronics
Engineering
VIT University
Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
p.sathya@vit.ac.in
Abstract— The main objective of this paper is to increase the
power conversion efficiency by effective solar spectral band
splitting. This is attained here by cascading semiconductor
materials of varying energy band gap arranged in the decreasing
order. In addition, an efficiency of a multijunction solar cell can
be improved by current and lattice constant matching of the
cells. Accordingly, a multijunction solar cell comprising of
AlGaAs/GaAs/Si materials are stacked one upon another
satisfying the lattice and current matching characteristics. The
complete structure is modelled in PC1D and the simulation
studies are carried out to determine the electrical parameters of
the cell. This multi junction solar cell resulted in an open circuit
voltage (Voc) of 1.244 V, short circuit current (Jsc) of 35.84
mA/cm2, maximum rated power (Pm) of 3.387 W and power
conversion efficiency of 33.87 % under the AM1.5G condition at
one sun.
Keywords—Aluminium Gallium Arsenide, Gallium Arsenide,
PC1D, Silicon, Efficiency
I. INTRODUCTION
Solar energy is most abundant and elegant energy form in
the environment. Compared to other energy resources like
nuclear power, coal, natural gas etc., In 2005, 13 terawatts
(TW) of power was consumed by worldwide energy
requirements, within 45 years from 2005 to 2050 power
consumption will going to increase 30 TW with a deficiency
for 17 to 20 TW [1]. Power generation of solar energy
resource is 600 TW, very less percentage of this resource
potential is sufficient to the whole world energy requirements
[2,3]. Solar energy is best suitable to solve the energy crisis in
present and future by looking at economical as well as
technical constraints. The maximum efficiency of a single p-n
junction solar cell is approximately 21% [4]. Increasing the
efficiency of solar cell is becomes a challenging task [5]. This
can be done by increasing the layers of the solar cell with
suitable materials so that it can utilize solar spectrum
efficiently [6]. Choosing the semiconductor material in
multijunction solar cell (MJSC) place an important role.
Layer material should be selected in such way that its band
gap, optical and electrical properties are matched to increase
the optimization of a solar spectrum. The AlGaAs/Si tandem
978-1-5386-1716-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
P. Supriya
School of Electronics
Engineering
VIT University
Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
p.supriya2014@vit.ac.in
cells resulted in an efficiency of 20 % due to high energy band
gap top layer [7]. InGaP/GaAs/Ge triple junction solar cell
provides conversion efficiency of 30.5 % under one “SUN”
illumination and it can be reached to 39.2% under 200 suns
illumination [8,9]. With InGaAs in the place of GaAs in above
multijunction solar structure resulted in an efficiency of 40%
at 100 suns [10]. Sometimes an inverted architecture of
semiconductor MJSC can also be designed for achieving high
efficiency, e.g. InGaP/GaAs/InGaAs MJSC with efficiency of
37.9 % [11]. Simulation results of the solar cell provide the
performance of cell before fabricating and will reduce the
cost, time and effort to produce a solar cell [12].
Silicon as a substrate in multijunction structure can produce
more efficiency which is cost effective and also abundant in
nature [13]. As per the recent research, silicon solar cell has
produced the highest efficiency of 25.6 % and if it is used as a
substrate layer, efficiency would be improved [14]. From the
review of the literature, it is found that AlGaAs as a top layer
and silicon as a substrate can be the best choice of materials
for MJSC. So we proposed a MJSC comprising of
AlGaAs/GaAs/Si materials to improve the absorption and
efficiency of the device. The PC1D computer program is
widely used for simulation of optoelectronic devices with one
dimensional visualization. This software is used here for the
design and simulation of our proposed solar cell.
II. NUMERICAL EQUATIONS
PC1D numerical simulation method uses semiconductor
transport equations as fundamental equations which are
derived from Boltzmann transport equations.
Electron and hole current densities Jn, Jp represented in
below equations (1) & (2) written in terms of electron and
hole mobility (μn, μp), electron density n, hole density p and
quasi Fermi energies of electrons and holes (EFn, EFp).
J p P p . p.’EFp (1)
Jn Pn .n.’EFn (2)
 ( Ec  EFn )/ kT
n Nc e (3)
 ( EFp  Ev ) / kT
p Nve (4)
In equations (3) & (4) Nc, Nv indicates the effective density of
states at the conduction band and valence band. Ec, Ev
represents the conduction band edge and valance band edge
energies.
wn ’J n
 GL  U n (5)
wt q infinite number of band gaps to involve each photon to
wp ’J p
  GL  U p (6)
wt q more. Multijunction solar cell works are based on this concept
The above equations(5),(6) are used to determine the number
of electrons and holes that enter into a given volume of space.
Un represents net volume recombination rate for electrons, Up
indicates net volume recombination rate for holes, GL is
electron hole pairs generated in a given volume due to
photogeneration.
Fill Factor is the ratio of maximum power from the solar cell
to the product of open circuit voltage and short circuit voltage.
Pout (max)
FF (7)
Voc * I sc
Efficiency can be determined using the formula given below
Voc * I sc * FF
K (8)
Pin
Photogeneration of the cell is given by
G D N0eD x (9)
N0 – Photon flux at surface
x – Distance into the material
α – Absorption co-efficient
The internal model of the cell uses Shockley Read hall
equation with different life times of electron and hole and a
trap energy level which can be adjustable within the band gap.
The Shockley read hall equation is shown in equation (10).
pn  ni2
R (10)
W n 0 ( p  ni e Et / kT )  W p 0 (n  ni e Et / kT )
Where ni – Effective intrinsic carrier concentration
- Bulk lifetime for electron
- Bulk lifetime for holes
– Trap energy level
III. MULTI JUNCTION SOLAR CELL
Detailed balance limit approach decides the most extreme
efficiency of a single junction solar cell [15]. The first
generation solar cell starts with a single junction and achieves
a conversion efficiency of (16-19) %. The main losses occur
in single junction solar are transmission and thermalization
losses [16]. Second generation thin film solar cells attain an
efficiency of (8-11) %. The sunlight based range covers a
scope of around 0.0012 eV to 4eV from infrared to ultraviolet.
Semiconductors cannot use the entire solar spectrum and the
solar cells only respond to the visible spectrum. In order to
effectively use the photons, every photon has to get an
opportunity to move the electron from valance band edge to
conduction band. So that photon efficiency spectrum can
occupy large area of solar spectrum as possible. The solar
spectrum contains an infinite number of photons; it requires
participate in the recombination process. Practically this can
be achieved with some finite number of band gaps like 2, 3, or
of band gap alignment.
Multijunction solar cell consists of many single junction
cells that are cascaded in series according to the decreasing
order of energy band gap. So that first layer of the cell has
more energy band gap leading to absorption of high energy
photons and this decreased when going down to the last layers
of the cell. When photons of higher energy than the band gap
of a layer falls then it absorbs and converts into electrical
energy.
The proposed MJSC has AlGaAs as the top cell, GaAs as
the middle cell and silicon as the bottom cell with band gaps
of 1.81 eV, 1.42 eV and 1.1 eV respectively. This arrangement
ensures the decreasing order of band gaps from top to bottom
for better absorption of the solar spectrum and efficient
utilization of all incident photons [17]. To reduce the
reflection of light on the top surface an anti-reflective coating
(ARC) is used [18]. In this MJSC, a dual anti-reflective
coating (DARC) is provided to reduce the reflection from the
top surface and also to reduce the recombination behind this
layer [19]. Texturing of solar cell surface is also given to
increase the chances of photons bounce back on the rough
surface of the cell. Here, AlGaAs/GaAs/Si multijunction
solar cell simulation is performed using PC1D software
program developed by Basore et al. This product can perform
one dimensional non-direct mathematical equations for the
development of electrons and holes in semiconductor devices
[20].
Before designing the MJSC structure, the performance of
the individual sub cells is required to achieve current
matching. Hence, each sub cell is simulated with a front
surface texture depth of 3μm, an angle of 54.4 degrees, and
base contact of 0.015 Ω and internal conductor of 0.3S. The
input parameters used for the device simulation are shown in
table I.
TABLE I. INPUT PARAMETERS USED IN THE SIMULATION OF
SOLAR CELL
Sub cell Bandgap Thickness N doping P doping
(eV) (μm) (cm-3) (cm-3)
AlGaAs 1.817 10 1 x 1018 2 x 1018
GaAs 1.424 10 2 x 1016 1 x 1016
Si 1.10 10 5 x 10 18
2 x 1016
 To achieve stability of the structure, thickness of sub cells
should be small or recombination of electron-hole pairs has to
occur before the carriers reach the contact. For this structure,
each sub cell of AlGaAs, GaAs, Si is set as 10 μm. Each sub
cell is a PN junction cell consists of an N-type emitter and P-
type absorber to collect electrons and holes. The device model
is shown in figure 1 and the main parameters used for the
triple junction solar cell are shown in table II.
measurements. The individual solar cells of AlGaAs, GaAs, Si
are simulated and the short circuit currents are observed, that
exhibit a great agreement of currents among those cells. So, it
is decided to have these three materials of choice in the
combination of AlGaAs/GaAs/Si MJSC.
TABLE III. ELECTRICAL PARAMETERS OF INDIVIDUAL SOLAR
CELLS

Electrical Parameters AlGaAs GaAs Si

2
Short Circuit Current (mA/cm ) 17.44 21.91 23.87
Open circuit Voltage (V) 1.227 0.95 0.52
Maximum output power (W) 1.565 1.488 0.865
Conversion efficiency (%) 15.65 14.88 8.65

The following graphs are observed with one “SUN” solar

radiation after simulation of the triple junction solar cell.
A. Photo Generation and Carrier Recombination

Fig. 1. Design of the proposed triple junction solar cell

TABLE II. MAIN PARAMETERS USED IN THE SIMULATION

Parameters Values
Device area 200 cm2
Temperature 25 ͦ C
Bulk recombination 10 μs
Base contact 0.015 Ω
Internal conductor 0.3 S
Fig. 2. Photo generation and recombination of electron
Thickness 30 μm hole pairs
ARC (Outer layer) 100 nm Generation rate determines the number of electrons
ARC (Inner layer) 80 nm generated at each point in the solar cell due to absorption of
Excitation mode Transient 16 steps photons and is shown in figure 2. In the graph red line
indicates the recombination of carriers and green line indicates
Base voltage -0.8 V to 5 V
the photo generation of the solar cell. Photo carriers generated
Solar radiation AM 1.5G at a rate of 96*1018/s till the distance of 20μm and from there
the generation increases gradually. In the Simulation model of
triple junction solar cell, bulk recombination is used. So the
internal model of the cell uses Shockley Read Hall( SRH)
IV. SIMULATION AND RESULT ANALYSIS
equation as shown in eqn.(10), with different life times of
The simulation of multijunction solar cell includes electron and hole and a trap energy level which can be
determining the generation and recombination of electrons and adjustable within the band gap. Photocarriers recombination
holes, energy band diagrams, carrier densities and the current started increasing exponentially at a distance of 10μm with
_voltage (IV) curve. The current_voltage curve is the most 20*1018/s again it increases to 36*1018/s till the distance of
important output since it gives data on solar cell efficiency, 30μm.
short circuit current, open circuit voltage and few different
B. Electron and hole densities of the cell
Carriers inside the semiconductor device carry the charge
and produce electrical current. Figure 3 shows the number of
carriers produced at a particular distance of the cell. Here red
color line indicates the number of holes generated and green
color line indicates the number of electron generated. From
the graph it is observed hole density varies from 1e+12 cm-3 to
1e+15 cm-3 within the thickness of 30 μm. Similarly, the
electron densities vary from 1e+16 cm-3 to 1e+18 cm-3 inside
the device.
Fig. 3. Electron and hole densities of the solar cell
C. Energy Band diagram
Fig. 4. Energy band diagram of the MJSC structure
Energy band diagram determines the amount of energy
required from the solar spectrum for conduction and the
amount of energy generated from the solar cell. The energy
band diagram of the MJSC is shown in figure 4. Here, the red
color line which is located on top of the diagram indicates the
conduction band edge(0.08225eV) and yellow color line
indicates the electron quasi Fermi energy level(-1.484e-
005eV) and blue color line indicates the hole quasi Fermi
energy level(-1.290eV) and green color bottom line indicates
the valance band edge(1.735eV). Short circuit current and
open circuit voltage can be related as a function of band gap.
Voc increases with band gap where as Isc decreases with band
gap. Energy band gap Eg (1.81725eV) is given by E g = Ec – Ev.
D. Voltage versus Current and Power curves
Current voltage characteristic curve is used to calculate the
photovoltaic cell parameters such as an open circuit voltage
(Voc), short circuit current density (J sc), fill factor and
conversion efficiency (ᅍ) of the solar cell. In the graph green
line indicates the base voltage vs. power characteristics and
the red line indicates base voltage vs. solar current.
Open circuit voltage (Voc): Open circuit voltage is the largest
voltage of the solar cell when current through the cell is zero.
Voc is a measure of recombination of electron hole pairs in a
cell. In the above graph, Voc of the multijunction solar cell can
be observed as 1.224 V.
Fig. 5. Graph depicting the output current and power as a
function of voltage
Short circuit current (Jsc): Short circuit current is the
maximum current from solar cell when voltage across the cell
is zero. Short circuit current produced in a cell due to
generation and recombination of carriers when light falls on
the solar cell. Jsc depends on area of the structure, number of
photons from the solar spectrum, incident light spectrum,
optical properties, and probability of collection light of the
cell. For this multijunction solar cell it is observed that the
short circuit current is 35.84 mA/cm2.
Fill Factor: Fill factor is used to determine the maximum
power which is produced by the solar cell. By equation(7) Fill
Factor calculated for this structure is 89 %.
Efficiency: Efficiency of a solar cell describes the performance
of the cell. It is defined as the ratio of output energy from the
solar cell to the input energy from the sun light. The input
power (Pin) for efficiency calculations used here is 100mW/
cm2 and using equation (8) efficiency is calculated as 33.87 %.
E. Quantum Efficiency
Fig. 6. Quantum Efficiency versus wavelength
Quantum efficiency is defined as ratio of number of
electron hole pairs collected by the solar cell to the number of
photons incident on the cell from solar spectrum. Here in
figure 6 red color line indicates IQE (Internal quantum
efficiency) which is number of electron hole pairs generated to
the number of incident photons from solar spectrum, from the
graph we can notice that IQE is 99 % between the
wavelengths of 400 nm to 600 nm. Green color line indicates
EQE (External quantum efficiency), which is number of
electron hole pairs produced to the number of photons
consume by the Photovoltaic cell, from 420 nm to 680 nm we
can observe 90 % of EQE. Yellow color line indicates RFL
(total reflectance).The AlGaAs/GaAs/Si MJSC designed and
simulated here resulted in Voc of 1.244V, Jsc of 35.84 mA/cm2,
FF of 89 % and ᅍ of 33.87 %. The major contribution of this
structure is high short circuit current density and high
efficiency at the small expense of open circuit voltage. The
performance of the proposed AlGaAs/GaAs/Si multijunction
solar cell is compared with the results of reference cell [9] in
table 4.
TABLE IV. PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF THE PROPOSED
CELL (9) AND REFERENCE CELL
Performance Parameters Proposed cell Reference Cell
AlGaAs/GaAs/Si InGaP/GaAs/Ge
Short Circuit Current (mA/cm2) 35.884 13.7
Open circuit Voltage (V) 1.244 2.552
Maximum output power (W) 3.387 3.05
Conversion efficiency (%) 33.87 30.5
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, AlGaAs/GaAs/Si triple junction tandem solar
cell has been designed and simulated in PC1D. Each sub cell’s
current densities of the MJSC have been observed as 17.43,
18.35 and 19.35 mA/cm2 that are closely matched. With a
suitable selection of required parameters like thickness,
doping, band gap and so on, the MJSC has resulted in V oc of
1.244V, Jsc of 35.84 mA/cm2, FF of 89 % and ᅍ of 33.87 %.
This structure has showed a significant improvement of short
circuit current density by 61.77 %, maximum output power by
9.95 %, and efficiency by 9.95 % and a decrement of open
circuit voltage by 51.25 % when compared to the existing
InGaP/GaAs/Ge reference cell. Even the reduction in open
circuit voltage can be developed in near future by proper
optical and electrical design.
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