We study polarization independent improved light trapping in commercial thin film hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar photovoltaic cells using a three-dimensional silver array of multi-resonant nano-disk structures embedded in a silicon nitride anti-reflection coating (ARC) to enhance optical absorption in the intrinsic layer (i-a-Si:H) for the visible spectrum for any polarization angle. Predicted total optical enhancement (OE) in absorption in the i-a-Si:H for AM-1.5 solar spectrum is 18.51% as compared to the reference, and producing a 19.65% improvement in short-circuit current density (JSC) over 11.7 mA/cm 2 for a reference cell. The JSC in the nano-disk patterned solar cell (NDPSC) was found to be higher than the commercial reference structure for any incident angle. The NDPSC has a multi-resonant optical response for the visible spectrum and the associated mechanism for OE in i-a-Si:H layer is excitation of Fabry-Perot resonance facilitated by surface plasmon resonances. The detrimental Staebler-Wronski effect (SWE) in a-Si:H solar cell can be minimized by the additional OE in the NDPSC and self-annealing of defect states by additional heat generation, thus likely improving the overall stabilized characteristics of a-Si:H solar cells.

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Recent numerical modeling of plasmonic metallic nanostructures have shown great potential as a method of light management in thin-film nanodisc-patterned hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. A significant design challenge for such plasmonic-enhanced PV devices is the requirement for ultra-thin transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) with high transmittance (low loss) and low enough resistivity to be used as device top contacts/electrodes. Most work on TCOs is on relatively thick layers and the few reported cases of thin TCO showed a marked decrease in conductivity. Recent work on ultra-thin TCOs of aluminum-doped zinc oxide, indium-doped tin oxide and zinc oxide revealed an unavoidable trade-off between transmittance and resistivity when fabricated with conventional growth methods. Ultra-thin films showed a tendency to be either amorphous and continuous or form as isolated islands. This results in poor electrical properties, which cannot be improved with annealing as the delicate thin films nucleate to form grain clusters. In order to overcome this challenge, this study investigates a novel method of producing ultra-thin (<40 nm) high quality TCOs. First, ~80nm ITO films are sputtered in various argon-oxygen atmospheres and annealed to increase conductivity. The most promising materials were then reduced in thickness with a controlled low-cost room-temperature cyclic wet chemical etching process to reach the desired thickness. The degradation in the electrical conductivity was tracked as a function of thickness. The sheet resistance of 36nm thin films was observed to be of the same order compared to the much thicker commercial ITO films currently used as transparent electrodes in PV and other opto-electronic devices. Experimental optical properties of the shaved films were then used in an optimized model of nano-disc plasmonic a-Si:H solar cells. Simulations indicate that optical enhancement greater than 21% are possible in the 300-730 nm wavelength range, when compared to the reference cell. Using the novel chemical shaving method described here, high-quality ultra-thin ITO films capable of improving the efficiency of thin film a-Si:H solar cells have been demonstrated. The methods employed in the optimization process are well established and economically viable, which provide the technical potential for commercialization of plasmonic based solar cells.