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Enhancement of solar cells with photonic and plasmonic crystals - overcoming the Lambertian limit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2013

Rana Biswas ,
Sambit Pattnaik ,
Chun Xu ,
Joydeep Bhattacharya ,
Nayan Chakravarty  and
Vikram Dalal
Rana Biswas*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011; and Microelectronics Research Center and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
Sambit Pattnaik
Affiliation:
Microelectronics Research Center and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
Chun Xu
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
Joydeep Bhattacharya
Affiliation:
Microelectronics Research Center and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
Nayan Chakravarty
Affiliation:
Microelectronics Research Center and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
Vikram Dalal
Affiliation:
Microelectronics Research Center and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: biswasr@iastate.edu
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Abstract

Red and near-infrared photons of longer wave lengths are poorly absorbed in thin film silicon cells and advanced light trapping methods are necessary. The physical mechanisms underlying the light trapping using periodic back reflectors are strong light diffraction, coupled with plasmonic light concentration. These are contrasted with the scattering mechanisms in randomly textured back reflectors. We describe a class of conformal solar cells with nanocone back reflectors with absorption at the Lambertian 4n2 limit, averaged over the “entire” wave length range for hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) thin-film solar cells. The absorption is theoretically found for 1-μm nc-Si:H cells, and is further enhanced for off-normal incidence. Predicted currents exceed 31 mA/cm2. Nc-Si:H solar cells with the same device architecture were conformally grown on periodic substrates and compared with randomly textured substrates. The periodic back reflector solar cells with nanopillars demonstrated higher quantum efficiency and photocurrents that were 1 mA/cm2 higher than those for the randomly textured back reflectors.

Type
Invited Feature Papers
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 8 , 28 April 2013 , pp. 1021 - 1030
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013

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References

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