Back‐side diffractive gratings enhance a solar cell's efficiency by trapping light inside the cell and increasing the probability of absorption. We introduce a three‐dimensional, polarization‐sensitive optical model combining ray tracing and rigorous coupled‐wave analysis to investigate silicon solar cells with pyramidal front‐side texturing and back‐side gratings. Parameter optimization is performed to increase the short‐circuit current density for a linear binary grating with grating period p and height h. For the investigated 180‐µm‐thick pyramidally textured silicon solar cells, the simulation yields a maximum enhancement of the short‐circuit current density by ΔJSC = 1.79 mA/cm2 corresponding to an absolute efficiency increase of Δη = 0.90%. Furthermore, we report on fabrication and reflectance measurements of solar cells with gratings and key challenges in achieving efficiency gains using back‐side diffractive gratings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract

No abstract

Back–side diffraction gratings enhance a solar cell’s near–band–gap response by diffracting light into higher orders and thereby reducing front–side escape losses. The resulting increased photon absorption and carrier generation improves short–circuit current densities and solar cell efficiencies. Combining rigorous coupled–wave analysis and ray tracing yields a three–dimensional, polarization sensitive optical model to calculate Si absorbance, front–side and back–side losses. For industrially used, pyramidally textured, 180 μm Si solar cells with 85 nm SiNxanti–reflection coating, the application of an optimized back–side grating enhances the short–circuit current density by ≈ +1 mA/cm2, a relative increase of ≈ +2.7 %.