Software: ANSYS Lumerical© Solutions
Technique: Optical (electromagnetic) modelling via Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method and Electrical (charge transport) simulations via finite element method (FEM) method
Contact person (UNINOVA): Pedro Barquinha (pmcb@fct.unl.pt), Ana Rovisco (a.rovisco@fct.unl.pt)
Responsibles: Manuel J. Mendes (mj.mendes@fct.unl.pt), Miguel Alexandre (m.alexandre@campus.fct.unl.pt)
Description: Software for modelling thin-film solar cells with arbitrary device geometry. Simulation of electromagnetic field uses a 3D FDTD solver while a FEM implementation of the charge transport (drift-diffusion plus Poisson) simulates electrical behaviour considering optically-calculated photogeneration profiles and material properties.
Specifications:
- 3D CAD Environment and parameterizable simulation objects allow for rapid model iterations.
- Uses multi-coefficient models for accurate material modelling over large wavelength ranges.
- Capability to simulate devices fabricated with nonlinear materials or materials with spatially varying anisotropy.
- Powerful post-processing capability, including far-field projection, band structure analysis, bidirectional scattering distribution function (BSDF) generation, Q-factor analysis, and charge generation rate.
- Lumerical’s high-performing solvers work seamlessly with high-performance computing (HPC) compatible with parallel processing
- Solvers are interoperable with all Lumerical tools through the Lumerical scripting language, Automation API, and Python and MATLAB APIs.
- Incorporated smart-search optimization algorithms
- Solutions can cover a broad frequency range
- Considers material parameters (as bandgap, dielectric permittivity, electron/hole effective mass, electron affinity, mobility, lifetime, doping, the density of states, series resistance, among others.)
Link for additional information: https://www.lumerical.com/ansys/
