Driftfusion: an open source code for simulating ordered semiconductor devices with mixed ionic-electronic conducting materials in one dimension

• Published in: Journal of computational electronics Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 960 - 991
• Main Authors: Calado, Philip, Gelmetti, Ilario, Hilton, Benjamin, Azzouzi, Mohammed, Nelson, Jenny, Barnes, Piers R. F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Boundary conditions; Carrier recombination; Carrier transport; Continuity equation; Current carriers; Drift; Electric fields; Electrical Engineering; Electrons; Engineering; Equilibrium; Interfaces; Interlayers; Lead compounds; Light emitting diodes; Mathematical and Computational Engineering; Mathematical and Computational Physics; Mechanical Engineering; Metal halides; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optoelectronic devices; Partial differential equations; Perovskites; Photovoltaic cells; Poisson equation; Protocol; Semiconductor devices; Simulation; Solar cells; Source code; Theoretical; Thin films; Solar cells; Ionic-electronic conductors; Drift-diffusion; Semiconductor device simulation; Perovskites; Device physics; Numerical modelling
• ISSN: 1569-8025; 1572-8137
• DOI: 10.1007/s10825-021-01827-z

The recent emergence of lead-halide perovskites as active layer materials for thin film semiconductor devices including solar cells, light emitting diodes, and memristors has motivated the development of several new drift-diffusion models that include the effects of both electronic and mobile ionic charge carriers. In this work we introduce Driftfusion, a versatile simulation tool built for modelling one-dimensional ordered semiconductor devices with mixed ionic-electronic conducting layers. Driftfusion enables users to model devices with multiple, distinct, material layers using up to four charge carrier species: electrons and holes plus up to two ionic species. The time-dependent carrier continuity equations are coupled to Poisson’s equation enabling transient optoelectronic device measurement protocols to be simulated. In addition to material and device-wide properties, users have direct access to adapt the physical models for carrier transport, generation and recombination. Furthermore, a discrete interlayer interface approach circumvents the requirement for boundary conditions at material interfaces and enables interface-specific properties to be introduced.