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Modeling and TCAD Simulation of Solar PV Cell

By Prof. Mukul Kumar Das   |   IIT(ISM) Dhanbad
Learners enrolled: 1074   |  Exam registration: 130
ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course on solar photovoltaic (PV) cell modeling and simulation covers three main topics: (1) Basics of Solar Cells: working principles and performance metrics, (2) Developing Models: creating both analytical and simulation models with a deep understanding of device physics, and (3) Simulation of Solar Cells using TCAD tools.
The course aims to provide a solid physical and intuitive understanding of solar cells, as well as knowledge of the technological advancements that have led to the current state-of-the-art solar cell structures. It covers important physical phenomena related to solar cell operation, such as carrier transport, recombination losses at interfaces and surfaces, optical losses, and contact losses, all of which are essential for developing accurate models. By the end of the course, participants will be able to develop their own TCAD simulation code and propose innovative solutions for solar cell design.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: BTech/MSc/MTech in EE/ECE

PREREQUISITES: Class XIIth standard in Science Stream
(However, those who have completed courses related to Semiconductor Device Physics will find it easier to keep up)


Summary
Course Status : Ongoing
Course Type : Elective
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Energy, Climate and Sustainability
  • Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
  • VLSI design
Credit Points : 3
Level : Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date : 21 Jul 2025
End Date : 10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends : 04 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends : 22 Aug 2025
Exam Date : 02 Nov 2025 IST
NCrF Level   : 4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits



Course layout

Week 1: Introduction to the course and semiconductor materials

       Lecture 01: Weekly plan in detail, context and scope of the course
       Lecture 02: Semiconductor basics, intrinsic and doped semiconductors

       Lecture 03: Band formation in solid and energy band diagram,   

        Lecture 04: Density of states, carrier distribution & concept of Fermi level
       Lecture 05: Numerical problems


Week 2: Semiconductor basics 

       Lecture 06 : Carrier concentration derivation  (intrinsic & extrinsic)
       Lecture 07 : Semiconductor p-n junction  & equilibrium establishment
       Lecture 08 : Built-in potential, depletion layer width calculation
       Lecture 09 : Energy band diagram (homo & hetero-junction), band offsets
       Lecture 10 : Numerical problems 
    
Week 3: Electrostatics of semiconductor junction
          
         Lecture 11: Metal - Semiconductor junction: Schottky and Ohmic
         Lecture 12: M-I-S junction  
         Lecture 13: Solar radiation & light-matter interaction
         Lecture 14: Illuminated p-n junction: carrier generation and band diagram
         Lecture 15: Numerical problems

Week 4: Solar cell fundamentals
         
        Lecture 16: Separation of photogene rated carriers and principle of PV generation
        Lecture 17: I-V characteristics and performance metrics of solar cell 
        Lecture 18: Origin of series, shunt resistances, equivalent circuit for solar cell
        Lecture 19: Optical and electrical losses (recombination: SRH, Auger)
        Lecture 20: Numerical Problems

Week 5: Technological progress of solar cell

         Lecture 21: Loss reduction: technological progress - Materials and structures (diff. generation)
         Lecture 22: Bulk (1st Gen.) - Al-BSF, PERC, PERT, PERL, TOPCON
         Lecture 23: Thin film technologies (2nd Gen.), CdTe, CIGS, a-Si  
         Lecture 24: 3rd Gen. technologies: Organic, Dye-sensitized, Perovskite  
         Lecture 25: Optical modelling of solar cell: propagation of light through multi-layer structure

Week 6: Solar cell modelling Part 1

         Lecture 26: Electrical modelling: carrier-transport-drift-diffusion model
         Lecture 27: Electrical modelling contd..
         Lecture 28: Different types of carrier scattering and mobility models
         Lecture 29: Mobility model for amorphous material
         Lecture 30: Numerical problems

Week 7: Solar cell modelling Part 2- important physical models for solar cell simulation

         Lecture 31: Band tail states, defects and recombination model
         Lecture 32: Transfer Matrix Method, light  propagation through dielectric interfaces
         Lecture 33: Carrier generation profile, position and wavelength dependency 
         Lecture 34: Carrier tunnelling models
         Lecture 35: Numerical problems

Week 8: Numerical solution of semiconductor equations- Part 1
      
        Lecture 36: Semiconductor equations: Poisson's, continuity and current density equations  
        Lecture 37: Discretization techniques: FDM, FEM, FVM and comparison
        Lecture 38: Mesh generation: Uniform, non-uniform grids; structured, unstructured meshes
        Lecture 39: Mesh refinement strategies including adaptive mesh refinement
        Lecture 40: Solution with example 

Week 9: Numerical solution of semiconductor equations – Part 2

         Lecture 41: Numerical solution of Poisson’s equation: Iterative solution
         Lecture 42: Num. solution of Poisson’s eqn. contd… - boundary conditions and interface handling
         Lecture 43: Numerical solution of continuity equations - Scharfetter–Gummel methods
         Lecture 44: Coupled solution technique for PDEs : Gummel’s method (decoupled iterative)
         Lecture 45: Coupled solution - Newton’s method (fully coupled)

Week 10: TCAD simulation part 1 - demonstration on simulation using SCAPS

         Lecture 46: Introduction to SCAPS-1D: simulation steps for the thin film solar cell 
         Lecture 47: Simulation of thin film solar cell contd…
         Lecture 48: Parameter extraction, analysis-effect of different device and material parameters
         Lecture 49: Effect of defects on the performance of thin film solar cell; C-V and C-f analysis 
                Lecture 50: Passivating interfaces, contact work function and BSF for efficiency enhancement

Week 11: TCAD Simulation Part 1 contd… - demonstration on simulation using SCAPS

        Lecture 51: User-defined (n,k) file generation and optical absorption
        Lecture 52: Step-by-step simulation of silicon PIN solar cell.
        Lecture 53: Band offset engineering for improvement in efficiency
        Lecture 54: Multijunction/tandem solar cell simulation using SCAPS
               Lecture 55: Multijunction/tandem solar cell contd.. and batch/recorder setup

Week 12: TCAD simulation part 2 - demonstration on simulation using PC1D
         
        Lecture 56: Introduction to PC1D: A quick overview of the software
        Lecture 57: Steps for simulation solar cell using PC1D
        Lecture 58: Steps for simulation contd…
        Lecture 59: Parameter extraction & analysis of results
        Lecture 60: Creating custom material file and batch/mode simulation

Books and references

Reading References:

Text Books :

  1. S. M. Sze and K. N. Kwok, “Physics of Semiconductor Devices,” 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2006, Chapter 1-4, 13. 
  2. Solar Cells: Operating Principles, Technology and System Applications by Martin A. Green, Prentice Hall, 1982
  3. Physics of Solar Cell by J. Nelson, Imperial College Press, 2008

References Book :

  1. M. Lundstrom, Fundamentals of Carrier Transport Cambridge University Press, 2000 
  2. Pallab Bhattacharya, Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices, Pearson Education, 2017, Chapter 1-3,10 
  3. C. Snowden, Introduction to Semiconductor Device Modeling, World Scientific, 1986 
  4. G. Streetman, and S. K. Banerjee, “Solid State Electronic Devices,” PHI Learning, Sixth Edition, 2012, Chapter 3,4,8
  5. S P Sukhatme and J K Nayak, Solar Energy, Mc. Graw Hill, 2017

Reference Manual :

Instructor bio

Prof. Mukul Kumar Das

IIT(ISM) Dhanbad
Dr. Mukul Kumar Das received his B.Tech. andM.Tech. Degrees in Radio Physics and Electronics from University of Calcutta, respectively in 1998, 2000. He served as faculty in different Engineering colleges in West Bengal, India during 2000-2004. He completed his Ph.D (Tech.) degree from Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, University of Calcutta in 2008 as faculty fellow. He also worked as Internship Research Fellow at EcolePolytechnique, France during June 2008 to August 2008.

Dr. Das joined at IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, India in September 2008 and is currently serving as Professor in the Department of Electronics Engineering and as Founder Head, Centre of Excellence in Renewable Energy, Project funded by MOE, Govt. of India. His research fields include modeling, design and development of semiconductor devices for optoelectronic applications, growth of metal oxide semiconductor based thin films by PVD. He has guided 12 Ph.D.s till date and published more than 40 research papers in SCI International Journals including top quality journals like APL, IEEE Transaction on Electron Devices etc.

Dr. Das is recipient of Young Scientist award by URSI GA - 2008. Also, he is recipient of National Scholarship for B.Sc. (Hons.) and was awarded by Indian Association of Physics Teachers for qualifying Part A and Part B of National Graduate Physics Examination (NGPE) in 1995. He became senior member of IEEE in 2010.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: November 2, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kharagpur. It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team
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