Analytical Performance Analysis of CdZnO/ZnO-Based Multiple Quantum Well Solar Cell

Abstract

This article presents analytical and simulation evaluation of multiple quantum well solar cells (MQWSC) with CdZnO/ZnO as the intrinsic layer, Sb-doped ZnO (SZO) as a p-type layer, and Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) as an n-type layer of the p-i-n solar cell (SC). The material parameters used in this article are obtained from the experimental reports on the properties of ZnO and CdZnO thin films grown by dual-ion-beam sputtering (DIBS). The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards data sheets have been utilized for attaining photon flux density instead of the blackbody radiation formula. The analytically obtained results show good agreement with the simulated results obtained by the ATLAS simulation tool. The variation of device performance parameters is examined for thermal stability. The results show that, for the proposed ZnO-based MQWSC, the open-circuit voltage ( ${V}_{{\text {oc}}}$ ) has a negative temperature coefficient (−2.63 mV/°C), and short-circuit current density ( ${J}_{{\text {sc}}}$ ) and conversion efficiency ( ${\eta }$ ) have positive temperature coefficients of $2.43\times 10^{{-{3}}} \,\,{\text {mA}/\text {cm}^{{{2}}}\cdot ^{\circ }}\text{C}$ and $2.91\times 10^{{-{3}}}$ %/°C, respectively. Further, the device performance has been explored for variation in the number of quantum wells. The results present that an increase in the number of quantum wells has a negative impact on the performance parameters of ZnO-based MQWSC.