Design and optimization of Copper Indium Gallium Selenide solar cells for lightweight battlefield application
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Authors
Columbus, Douglas A.
Subjects
CIGS
efficiency
optimization
thickness
band gap
Silvaco
ATLAS
efficiency
optimization
thickness
band gap
Silvaco
ATLAS
Advisors
Michael, Sherif
Date of Issue
2014-06
Date
June 2014
Publisher
Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The design and optimization of higher efficiency Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) solar cells are investigated in this thesis. Optimizing the thickness layers of a cell for various band gaps was conducted in order to design a cell that exceeds the current industry efficiency record of 20.8%. Silvaco provides a modeling program called ATLAS that is specifically designed to model semiconductor devices. ATLAS was used to model a CIGS cell that is currently being produced to verify the validity of the model. Various thicknesses were then swept to determine the optimum thickness for a given band gap. Solar spectrum intensity varies by location around the Earth. Optimizing CIGS cells for various band gaps yields higher overall power output when dealing with drastic climate and location variations. Cells for five band gaps ranging from 1.14 eV to 1.69 eV were optimized in this thesis. The highest achieved efficiency was for a band gap of 1.69 eV with an overall theoretical efficiency of 22.4%.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
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Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.