Characterization and Comparison by PC1D Multilayer Solar Cells

Over recent decades, the possibility of using solar power as an energy source has been limited by the implementation costs and the net conversion efficiency. Additionally, in comparison with the traditional sources, solar energy cannot produce energy for all the twenty-four hours of the day, which increases the costs of the source, due to the need of a backup system. Therefore, this paper studies the effect of combining different types of semiconductors as Si, Ge, AlGaAs and GaAs, focusing on how the conversion efficiency can be improved. In order to perform this, a multilayer solar cells analysis across the study of the quantum efficiency, which quantifies the amount of energy lost in the power conversion process, is implemented. In order to develop the required study PC1D software, specialized in simulate semiconductor´s behavior based on its physiochemical properties, which gives the possibility to create different layers of solar cells is utilized. From the data acquired of the simulated cells, the paper presents the electrical results starting from a cell of one layer to a cell of four layers with the aim of establishing the relation between the number of layers and the net conversion efficiency under standard environmental conditions.