RefractiveIndex.INFO is an outstanding and widely respected open database of optical constants (n and k) for a wide range of materials. It has become a go-to reference for researchers in optics, photonics, and semiconductor device modeling. The project is carefully maintained by Mikhail Polyanskiy and is regularly updated, making it an invaluable companion to tools such as OghmaNano.
PV Lighthouse, led by Keith McIntosh with contributions from many others, provides a suite of online calculators and educational resources for photovoltaic device design and analysis. It is a useful reference point for both students and professionals working on solar cell physics and engineering.
For a broader overview of semiconductor device modeling tools, see Juan Sanchez’s curated directory at TCADcentral. He also develops DEVSIM, an open-source 2D/3D drift–diffusion device simulator that is widely used for research and teaching.
A broader listing of photovoltaic simulation environments can be found at Scientific photovoltaic software, which collects links to a variety of research and commercial tools.
The NUSOD Blog, maintained by Joachim Piprek, offers commentary and updates on numerical simulation of optoelectronic devices. It regularly discusses lasers, LEDs, modulators, and broader trends in semiconductor device modeling, making it a valuable perspective from a leading expert in the field.
Silvaco provides a commercial TCAD suite that includes generic solar-cell simulation capabilities. While commercial and licensed, it is one of the long-standing names in semiconductor process and device modeling.
The ASA software project at TU Delft provides a simulation platform for semiconductor and photovoltaic devices. It offers features comparable to other TCAD tools and is actively developed within an academic research environment.
