Journal of Photonic Materials and Technology

2016; 2(2): 14-19

http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/jpmt
doi: 10.11648/j.jmpt.20160202.11
ISSN: 2469-8423 (Print); ISSN: 2469-8431 (Online)

Simulation of Performance of Cadmium Telluride Solar Cell

Using AMPS-1D Program
Hamdan A. S. Al-shamiri1, 2, *, Mohamed O. Sid-Ahmed3, Faisal Abdu Hezam4
1
physics Department, Faculty of Applied Science, Taiz University, Taiz, Republic of Yemen
2
physics Department, Faculty of science and Arts, Bisha University, Bisha, Saudi Arabia
3
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Sudan University of Science & Technology, Khartoum, Republic of Sudan
4
Physics Department, Faculty of Education, Taiz University, Taiz, Republic of Yemen

Email address:
h_elshamiri@hotmail.com (H. A. S. Al-shamiri)
*
Corresponding author

To cite this article:

Hamdan A. S. Al-shamiri, Mohamed O. Sid-Ahmed, Faisal Abdu Hezam. Simulation of Performance of Cadmium Telluride Solar Cell
Using AMPS-1D Program. Journal of Photonic Materials and Technology. Vol. 2, No. 2, 2016, pp. 14-19. doi: 10.11648/j.jmpt.20160202.11

Received: September 2, 2016; Accepted: September 23, 2016; Published: October 17, 2016

Abstract: In this research, we have used the AMPS-1D program to study the enhancement of the Cadmium telluride cell
efficiency by studying the relationship between efficiency and some variables, such as the thickness and doping density of the
cell layers, type of the back contact metal, and changes in solar radiation and temperature. Simulation results showed that the
efficiency increased largely with the increase in the thickness of the absorbent layer CdTe, until the value of (1500 nm), by
reducing the thickness of the layer of CdS (n-type), and it does not depend on the thickness of the front contact layer (SnO2).
The efficiency depends largely on the doping concentration of the absorbent layer (NA). When the efficiency increases with
vaccination rate up to the value 1016 cm-3, then it does not increase significantly, while a higher efficiency is reached when the
vaccination of CdS layer is at the value 1017 cm-3. The cell has a high stability at high temperatures with a decreasing rate of
0.08%/°C. The efficiency depends on the type of metal used as a back contact material in the cell under study, and showed that
the Aluminum (Al) gives higher efficiency than other metals. As a result installation of Cadmium telluride cell by adoption of
the values obtained increases the efficiency of the cell from 13.8% to 19.5%.
Keywords: Thin Film Solar Cell, Cadmium Telluride Cell Efficiency, Simulation, AMPS 1D

absorption coefficient (> 5×105 cm-1) due to its ideal and

1. Introduction direct band gap energy 1.45 eV; which corresponds well to
The CdTe thin film solar cell basically consists of two sunlight spectra and ~ 99% of photons with energy greater
semiconducting layers. A CdS layer serves as the n-type than the band gap (Eg) can be absorbed within 1 µm of CdTe
window material with energy bandgap, Eg = 2.42 eV and a film [4, 5, 6]. Small-area CdTe cells already achieved
CdTe layer (absorber) deposited on top with Eg = 1.45 eV. efficiency of 16.5% in laboratory and 11% in the commercial
Research in CdTe dates back to the 1950s. A CdS/CdTe thin modules. However, there are scopes to improve the
film solar cell was first fabricated using an evaporation CdS/CdTe solar cell performance further more by modified
technique in 1969 by Adrirovich et al. [1] with a conversion design and simple deposition technique to improve any one
efficiency of 1%. In the late of 1980s [2], Tyan and Perez of cell output parameters [7]. The strategies for improving
produced a solar cell with an efficiency of 10% based on a cell performance have been explored, utilizing AMPS-1D
CdS/CdTe thin film. Afterwards an efficiency of 15.8% has (Analysis of Microelectronic and Photonic Structures)
been reached by Ferekides et al. [3]. At present, the CdTe simulator have also been discussed [8, 9].
solar cell makes more attraction to the researchers and The AMPS-1D program has been developed for
commercials for its higher efficiency, low cost, highly stable pragmatically simulate the electrical characteristics of thin
and large scale fabrication opportunity. CdTe has larger film hetero-junction solar cells. It has been proven to be a
15 Hamdan A. S. Al-shamiri et al.: Simulation of Performance of Cadmium Telluride Solar Cell Using AMPS-1D Program

very powerful tool in understanding device operation and proposed structures and geometry on cell performance and
physics for single crystal, poly-crystal and amorphous fitting of modeling output to experimental results. Fig. 1a and
structure. To date, more than 200 groups worldwide have 1b illustrates the CdTe baseline case structure and the
been using AMPS-1D for solar cell design [8]. modified (Glass/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Al) structure of CdTe cell
The objective of this research is to use AMPS-1D program for higher conversion efficiency (η). The baseline case cell in
(analysis of microelectronic and photonic structure in one this work contains of three principle layers: n-type SnO2 as a
dimension) to obtain the optimum structure of the cadmium TCO material (high transparence, high conductivity), n-type
telluride solar cell (CdS/CdTe). CdS as a window layer and p-type CdTe as an absorber layer.
Considering the low cost feature Ag is used as a back contact
2. Modeling and Simulation material with back contact barrier height (ФbL) of 1.25 eV.
Figures 1a, 1b illustrate the baseline case of CdS/CdTe cell
The major objectives of numerical modeling and and the modified structure for higher conversion efficiency
simulation in solar cell research are testing the validity of (η).

Figure 1. Structures of the CdS /CdTe solar cell: (a) conventional baseline case structure and (b) modified structure for higher performance.

In this analysis, we have varied the CdTe layer thickness voltage (Voc) = 0.83 V, Short circuit current density (Jsc) =
from 10 nm up to 6000 nm, CdS window layer thickness 25.035 mA/cm2, Fill factor (FF) = 0.66) was found from the
from 25 nm to 600 nm and SnO2 layer thickness from 10 nm baseline case structure (figure 1a); where CdTe thickness was
to 200 nm and with different back contact materials; such as 5000 nm, SnO2 was 500 nm, CdS was 100 nm, and Ag was
(Pt, Au, Ag, Mo, AL, Ni and Cu) and by keeping all other taken as the final back contact metal with a barrier height of
parameters at fixed value as shown in table 1 aiming to 1.25 eV, when the temperature is fixed at a value of 300 Κ and
efficient and thinner CdS/CdTe solar cell. with the CdTe doping concentration (1015) cm-3, CdS doping
concentration (1018) cm-3, the other conditions and parameters
Table 1. Material parameters used for cell simulation. that applied in the simulation were given in table 1.
n-SnO2 n-CdS p-CdTe The CdS thickness has been varied from 25 nm to 600 nm
W (µm) 0.01-0.50 0.025-0.6 0.010 - 6 to explore thinner window layer and the results obtained
ε/εo 9 10 9.4 from AMPS-1D simulation are shown in figure 2.
µe (cm2/vs) 100 350 500
µh (cm2/vs) 25 50 60
Eg (eV) 3.6 2.42 1.45
NC (cm3) 2.2×1018 2.2×1018 7.5×1017
NV (cm3) 1.8×1019 1.8×1019 1.8×1018
χ (ev) 4.5 4.5 4.28
NA (cm-3) -------- -------- 5×1016
ND (cm-3) 1017 1018 --------

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Effects of Layer Thickness

The effects of Cds, CdTe and SnO2 thickness on the

conversion efficiency of the solar cell were studied. The
conventional CdTe baseline structure
(glass/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Ag) was the starting point of this Figure 2. Relation between CdS layer thickness and the conversion
analysis. The conversion efficiency of 13.78% (Open circuit efficiency of the baseline case cell at different thicknesses of CdTe layer.
 Journal of Photonic Materials and Technology 2016; 2(2): 14-19 16

Figure 2 shows that efficiency improved greatly with

reduced CdS layer, the cell conversion efficiency increases
when the CdS layer thickness is reduced. But from the other
published works [10, 11, 12] to date; it is impractical to
fabricate cells with CdS film thickness below 50 nm. It is
found that when the operating wavelength is below 510 nm the
quantum efficiency (QE) was significantly affected with
increasing CdS layer thickness. This affected mainly on Jsc
and finally the conversion efficiency of the cell. Considering
the fabrication constraint, the CdS film thickness of 50 nm was
selected with conversion efficiency of 14.08% (Voc= 0.83 V,
Jsc = 25.46 mA/cm2, FF= 0.664) (figure 2). This result is in a
good agreement with other published works [10, 11].
To explore the thickness of CdTe absorber layer required
to achieve maximum conversion efficiency; the CdTe
Figure 4. Effect of the TCO layer (SnO2) thickness on the cell conversion
absorber thickness was varied from 10 nm to 6000 nm to efficiency.
explore thinner CdTe absorber layer using AMPS-1D
simulator, the simulated results are shown in figure 3. It is 3.2. Effects of Doping Concentration
clear from figure 3 that the solar cell output efficiency is
maximum for CdTe thickness greater than 2000 nm, and the In the baseline case cell CdTe layer doping concentration
efficiency decreases sharply below the CdTe thickness of was (1015 cm-3) with a conversion efficiency 14.12% (Voc =
1500 nm; this indicates that 1.5 µm thickness of CdTe layer 0.85 V, Jsc = 25.27 mA/cm2, FF = 0.66); (donor doping
is sufficient to get a high efficiency. This value close to the density (ND) of CdS layer was fixed at the value (1018 cm-3)).
theoretical minimum thickness (2 µm) required for CdTe It has been found that the conversion efficiency increases up
layer to absorb 99% of the incident photons with energy to 16.2% (Voc = 0.97 V, Jsc = 24.89 mA/cm2, FF = 0.66)
greater than Eg [11]. The 1.5 µm thick CdTe cell shows with the CdTe doping density (1016 cm-3), (at the thickness
efficiency of 14.5%, (at conditions in figure 3). These results values 100 nm, 50 nm, 1000 nm of SnO2, CdS, CdTe layers
are in a good agreements with related published results [10, respectively). Figure 5 shows the effect of acceptor doping
11, 12, 13]. density (NA) on the cell efficiency; where the efficiency was
calculated at different values of NA and found that the
conversion efficiency increases with the increase of acceptor
doping density (NA). Figure 5 shows that efficiency increases
sharply with the increase of NA up to 3×1015 cm-3, so the
concentrations of 3×1015 cm-3 - 1016 cm-3 will be sufficient to
enhance the cell conversion efficiency.

Figure 3. Effect of CdTe film thickness on the cell conversion efficiency at

300 Κ, CdS with 100 nm thickness.

The effect of the TCO layer (SnO2) thickness on the cell

conversion efficiency has been studied using AMPS-1D
program. The TCO layer thickness was varied from 40 nm to
200 nm at 300 Κ, with 100 nm thickness for CdS layer, 1000
nm thickness for CdTe layer, while all parameters were fixed
as shown in table 1.
Figure 5. Effect of acceptor doping density (NA)(of CdTe layer) on the
Figure 4 shows the results obtained from AMPS
efficiency of the baseline case cell (glass/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Ag), at ND= 1018
simulation which indicate that the conversion efficiency is cm-3.
unaffected by TCO (SnO2) layer thickness (remains constant
at the value 14.12%), so the reduced value 100 nm for TCO
layer thickness will be suitable.
17 Hamdan A. S. Al-shamiri et al.: Simulation of Performance of Cadmium Telluride Solar Cell Using AMPS-1D Program

doping density (ND) equal to 1017 cm-3. The simulated results

are shown in figure 6 and it has been obtained with 50 nm
thickness for CdS layer, 1000 nm thickness for CdTe layer,
while the other parameters were fixed as shown in table 1.
3.3. Effect of the Back Contact Barrier height (ФbL)

In the baseline case cell (glass/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Ag)

considering the simplicity and low cost feature silver was used
as a back contact material with back contact barrier height (ФbL)
of 1.25 eV. To investigate the effect of the back contact barrier
heights on the cell conversion efficiency back contact materials
(Ag, Ni, Cu, Pt, Al, Ti, Zn, Mo, Au) have been inserted in the
modified cell; for the (p-type - metal) contact the back contact
barrier height is calculated from the relation 1 [14]:
BHIBL(ФbL) = CHI + EG – WF (1)
Figure 6. Effect of donor doping density (ND) (of CdS layer) on the
conversion efficiency of the baseline case cell (glass/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Ag), at Where:
NA=5×1016 cm-3. CHI the electron affinity (χ), EG the mobility band gap of
the p-type material CdTe, WF (Фm) the metal work function.
To investigate the effect of donor doping density (ND) on the
Table 2 shows the calculated barrier heights for some proposed
cell conversion efficiency, the acceptor doping density (NA) (of
metals as a back contact and the calculated efficiencies for the
CdTe layer) will be fixed at the value (5×1016 cm-3) and the
corresponding proposed structures of the modified cell.
efficiency will be calculated as (ND) is changed from 1016 cm-3
to 5×1018 cm-3, the highest efficiency 19.01% has been
obtained using AMPS-1D program at the value of donor
Table 2. The calculated barrier heights (from equ. 1) and calculated efficiencies using AMPS-1D simnulation program for some proposed structures including
different back contact materials.

Work function range Barrier height BHIBL (eV) =

The proposed structures Selected values Efficiency %
(metal) CHI+EG -WF (ev) (Back contact)
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Pt 5.12-5.93 5.65 0.13 1.768
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Au 5.1-5.47 5.15 0.63 10.524
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Ni 5.04-5.35 5.1 0.68 11.517
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Cu 4.53-5.1 4.65 1.13 18.95
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Mo 4.36-4.95 4.6 1.18 18.983
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Ag 4.52-4.74 4.53 1.25 19.01
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Ti 4.33 4.33 1.45 19.23
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Zn 3.63-4.9 4.33 1.45 19.23
Glass/SnO2 /CdS/CdTe /Al 4.06-4.28 4.28 1.5 19.5 (max)

(a) (b)
Figure 7. (a) efficiency with metal work functions, (b) efficiency with back
 Journal of Photonic Materials and Technology 2016; 2(2): 14-19 18

contact barrier heights. K (η = 7.96%), with 3000 nm CdTe thickness, 100 nm CdS
thickness, and 100 nm SnO2 thickness. The results are shown in
Figures 7 (a), (b) and table 2 showed that the metals Al, Zn, figures 9, 10; it is evident from figure 9 that the conversion
Ti, Ag, are suitable and make good back contacts to get high efficiency nearly linearly decreases with a rate of -0.08%/°C,
efficiencies 19.5%, 19.23%, 19.23%, 19.01% respectively. which also indicates the degree of stability of the cell at higher
3.4. Effect of Solar Irradiance and Operating Temperature operating temperature. Comparing with the results in the
reference [16] for most crystalline and amorphous cells, this cell
Solar cells experience daily variations in light intensity, is more stable. Figure 10 indicates the same results represented
with the incident power from the sun varying from ‘0’ to ‘1’ by the light I-V characteristics curves.
kW/m2, so it is important to investigate the effect of
irradiance on solar cell performance with the variation of
light intensity [12]. Figure 8 shows how the I-V curves for
(glass/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Ag) cell vary with changes in
irradiance; the curves move in the vertical direction much
more than they move horizontally. When irradiance drops by
half, the electricity generated and subsequently solar cell
efficiency also reduces by half. The voltage slightly affected
by changing irradiance. This result is in a good agreement
with the other published works like [12, 15].

Figure 10. Light I-V characteristics curves for the baseline case cell (glass
/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Ag) at different operating temperatures.

Figure 8. I-V characteristics curves of (glass/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Ag) cell at

different irradiance using AMPS-1D simulation program.

Figure 11. Modified structure for higher performance.

Figure 9. Effect of operating temperature on the cell conversion efficiency.

The relation between the conversion efficiency and operating

temperature for the (glass/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Ag) cell has been
studied using AMPS-1D program; the efficiency was calculated
as the temperature is changed from 300 K (η = 14.12%) to 380
19 Hamdan A. S. Al-shamiri et al.: Simulation of Performance of Cadmium Telluride Solar Cell Using AMPS-1D Program

Figure 12. Light I-V Characteristics for the modified structure [5] Xuanzhi Wu., (2004), High-efficiency polycrystalline thin-
(SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Al) for higher conversion efficiency, where the best film solar cell. Solar Energy (77), 803.
parameters values are applied using AMPS-1D program.
[6] M. Hadrich, C. Kraft, C Loffler, H. Metzner, U. Reislohner,
Finally we can consider the last results and insert the W. Witthuhn. (2009), Pathways to thin absorbers in CdTe solar
cells. Thin Solid Films, 517, 2282.
optimization parameters in the structure (glass
/SnO2/CdS/CdTe/Al) which correspond to the best [7] Lukas Kranz, et. Al, (2013), Doping of polycrystalline CdTe
conversion efficiency as was found from the previous results. for high-efficiency solar cells on flexible metal foil. Nature
In this modified cell the parameters will be fixed as shown Communications DOI: 0.1038/ncomms3306.
in figure 11, with the concentrations 5×1016 cm-3 (the today’s [8] Hong Z., Ali Kaan Kalkan, Jingya Hou & Stephen J. Fonash
achievable [11]), 1017 cm-3 of NA, ND respectively, Al metal (1999), Application of AMPS-1D for solar cell simulation AIP
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