On the interplay of cell thickness and optimum period of silicon thin‐film solar cells: light trapping and plasmonic losses

Tamang, Asman; Sai, Hitoshi; Jovanov, Vladislav; Hossain, Mohammad Ismail; Matsubara, Koji; Knipp, Dietmar

doi:10.1002/pip.2718

Cited by 27 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(95 reference statements)

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“…The area filling factor of the nanowire is equal to (D/P) 2 . A constant unit cell period of 900 nm is chosen for these simulations as previous studies have shown that the optimal period of the surface texture is approximately equal to the thickness of the solar cell [9]. The diameter of the nanowire is varied from 50 nm to 900 nm corresponding to area fill factors ranging from 0.3% to 100%.…”

Section: Solar Cells With Textured Silicon Absorbersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 3D diffraction grating (nanowire array) leads to a higher quantum efficiency and short circuit current density compared to 2D diffraction gratings (line grating). approximately equal to the thickness of the solar cell [9]. The diameter of the nanowire is varied from 50 nm to 900 nm corresponding to area fill factors ranging from 0.3% to 100%.…”

Section: Solar Cells With Textured Silicon Absorbersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The nanotextured contact layers reduce reflection losses and enhance the scattering and diffraction of light within the solar cells. Moreover, the optical path length is increased leading to an enhanced quantum efficiency and short circuit current density in the red and infrared range of the optical spectrum (wavelengths between 600 and 1100 nm) [6][7][8][9]. Furthermore, alternative approaches, such as 3D solar cells [10][11][12][13][14][15] or nanowire solar cells, have gained considerable attention in recent years [16][17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Experimentally, high conversion efficiencies have been achieved by texturing the contact layers of silicon solar cells [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. The nanotextured contact layers reduce reflection losses and enhance the scattering and diffraction of light within the solar cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparison of Light Trapping in Silicon Nanowire and Surface Textured Thin-Film Solar Cells

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The optics of axial silicon nanowire solar cells is investigated and compared to silicon thin-film solar cells with textured contact layers. The quantum efficiency and short circuit current density are calculated taking a device geometry into account, which can be fabricated by using standard semiconductor processing. The solar cells with textured absorber and textured contact layers provide a gain of short circuit current density of 4.4 mA/cm 2 and 6.1 mA/cm 2 compared to a solar cell on a flat substrate, respectively. The influence of the device dimensions on the quantum efficiency and short circuit current density will be discussed.

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Section: Solar Cells With Textured Silicon Absorbersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Solar Cells With Textured Silicon Absorbersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparison of Light Trapping in Silicon Nanowire and Surface Textured Thin-Film Solar Cells

et al. 2017

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“…Hence the short-circuit current density is reduced to 19.3 mA cm −2 . [65] In the current study, we have used a flat aluminum reflector, while the NiO/ITO layer is textured. [63,64] By inserting an interlayer with a low refractive index, the plasmon resonance wavelength can be shifted to short wavelengths.…”

Section: Light Incoupling In Solar Cells With Low Refractive Index/pementioning

confidence: 99%

Approaching Perfect Light Incoupling in Perovskite and Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells by Moth Eye Surface Textures

Qarony

Hossain

Dewan

et al. 2018

Advcd Theory and Sims

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Solar cells with increased short-circuit current density and energy conversion efficiency can be realized by integrating moth eye textures in the design of perovskite and amorphous silicon thin film solar cells. Broadband light incoupling in solar cells can be achieved by using hexagonally arranged arrays of nipples or domes with parabolically shaped surface profiles. The moth eye surface texture represents a refractive index grating that allows for an efficient incoupling of light in the solar cell while minimizing reflection losses. The light incoupling is studied for perovskite and amorphous silicon solar cells. Perovskite has a rather low refractive index of 2.5, while amorphous silicon exhibits a refractive index of 4.5 comparable to that of crystalline silicon. Due to largely different refractive indices, different device designs must be selected to allow for an efficient light incoupling in the solar cell. 3D finite-difference time-domain simulations are used for the optical modeling. Design guidelines are provided on how to realize perovskite and silicon thin film solar cells with high quantum efficiency and short-circuit current by using moth eye textures.

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Tiling of Solar Cell Surfaces: Influence on Photon Management and Microstructure

Tamang

Sai

Jovanov

et al. 2017

Adv Materials Inter

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optical losses. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Hence, both the quantum efficiency (QE) and short-circuit current density of the solar cells can potentially be enhanced when properly implemented. Several experimental and simulation approaches have been carried out to derive the optimal textured interfaces. [4,7,9,15] However, realization and modeling of the optimal textured interfaces are complex because several factors have to be considered. [4,7,9,15] In order to realize the solar cells with high energy conversion efficiency, it is necessary to maximize the product of short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor. Texturing the interfaces affects not only the short-circuit current density. The open-circuit voltage and fill factor are affected too by changing the surface texture of microcrystalline silicon thinfilm solar cells. [2,7,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Microcrystalline silicon films grown on textured surfaces exhibit a high concentration of microstructure-induced recombination centers, while the silicon films prepared on smooth surfaces do not exhibit such microstructure-induced recombination centers. [16,18,[23][24][25][26] A high concentration of recombination centers is observed in regions with reduced structural order, often called "cracks" or "voids." The concentration of cracks increases with increasing roughness of the substrate. [14,16,18,[23][24][25][26] As a result, the crack formation affects the charge collection efficiency of the solar cells. Furthermore, the open-circuit voltage and fill factor are affected. [7,16,18,[22][23][24][25][26] Hence, these electrical properties of the microcrystalline silicon solar cell have to be considered when optimizing its light-trapping properties.The microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si:H) solar cells fabricated on hexagonal textured substrates exhibit the highest short-circuit current density of up to 32.9 mA cm −2 , and energy conversion efficiency up to 11.8%. [3,6] The highest short-circuit current density of 32.9 mA cm −2 is obtained for a 4 µm thick solar cell on a hexagonal textured substrate with period of 4 µm, while the highest energy conversion efficiency is obtained for a solar cell with a thickness of 1.7 µm on a hexagonal textured substrate with a period of 2.0 µm. [3,6] However, it remains unclear if hexagonal textured substrates represent the best possible substrate. Hence, in this study, the influence of different textured substrates on the QE, short-circuit current density, and formation of cracks is studied.In the following, the µc-Si:H solar cells with different substrate textures are compared in respect of the optical properties Microcrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells prepared on hexagonal tiled surfaces exhibit record short-circuit current densities and energy conversion efficiencies. However, it remains unclear if hexagonal textured substrates represent the best possible substrate tiling. In this study, hexagonal tiled substrates are compared with square and triangular tiled substrates in terms of...

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On the interplay of cell thickness and optimum period of silicon thin‐film solar cells: light trapping and plasmonic losses

Cited by 27 publications

References 39 publications

Comparison of Light Trapping in Silicon Nanowire and Surface Textured Thin-Film Solar Cells

Comparison of Light Trapping in Silicon Nanowire and Surface Textured Thin-Film Solar Cells

Approaching Perfect Light Incoupling in Perovskite and Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells by Moth Eye Surface Textures

Tiling of Solar Cell Surfaces: Influence on Photon Management and Microstructure

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