Nanophotonic light trapping in 3-dimensional thin-film silicon architectures

Lockau, Daniel; Sontheimer, Tobias; Becker, Christiane; Rudigier‐Voigt, Eveline; Schmidt, Frank; Rech, Bernd

doi:10.1364/oe.21.000a42

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Their structure showed a larger absorption enhancement from a backside 2D grating as compared with similar designs in 2 and 5 μ m silicon films owing to reduced parasitic losses. Similar conclusions were found in the study of a 2.4 μ m-thick polycrystalline periodic nanodome architecture formed by electron beam evaporation and annealing of silicon on a periodically patterned sol-gel surface [ 75 ]. Light trapping in the structure was predicted to operate near the 4n 2 limit when the cell was sandwiched between lossless transparent conductive oxide contacts.…”

Section: Figuresupporting

confidence: 77%

Nanostructures for photon management in solar cells

Narasimhan

Cui

2013

Nanophotonics

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Abstract:The concurrent development of high-performance materials, new device and system architectures, and nanofabrication processes has driven widespread research and development in the field of nanostructures for photon management in photovoltaics. The fundamental goals of photon management are to reduce incident light reflection, improve absorption, and tailor the optical properties of a device for use in different types of energy conversion systems. Nanostructures rely on a core set of phenomena to attain these goals, including gradation of the refractive index, coupling to waveguide modes through surface structuring, and modification of the photonic band structure of a device. In this review, we present recent developments in the field of nanostructures for photon management in solar cells with applications across different materials and system architectures. We focus both on theoretical and numerical studies and on progress in fabricating solar cells containing photonic nanostructures. We show that nanoscale light management structures have yielded real efficiency gains in many types of photovoltaic devices; however, we note that important work remains to ensure that improved optical performance does not come at the expense of poor electrical properties.

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Section: Figuresupporting

confidence: 77%

Nanostructures for photon management in solar cells

Narasimhan

Cui

2013

Nanophotonics

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“…The most common nanostructures for light-trapping are periodic [9,31,[36][37][38]. Periodic structures are typically defined by the period (P UC ) of the unit cell (UC), the filling fraction of air holes into the active material ( f UC ) and the shape of the holes, for example, the width of inverted pyramids (W UC ) (cf.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A fair comparison between ultrathin crystalline-silicon solar cells with either periodic or correlated disorder inverted pyramid textures

Müller¹,

Herman²,

Mayer³

et al. 2015

Opt. Express

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Fabrication of competitive solar cells based on nano-textured ultrathin silicon technology is challenging nowadays. Attention is paid to the optimization of this type of texture, with a lot of simulation and experimental results published in the last few years. While previous studies discussed mainly the local features of the surface texture, we highlight here the importance of their filling fraction. In this work, we focus on a fair comparison between a technologically realizable correlated disorder pattern of inverted nano-pyramids on an ultrathin crystalline-silicon layer, and its periodically patterned counterpart. A fair comparison is made possible by defining an equivalent periodic structure for each hole filling fraction. Moreover, in order to be as realistic as possible, we consider patterns that could be fabricated by standard patterning techniques: hole-mask colloidal lithography, nanoimprint lithography and wet chemical etching. Based on numerical simulations, we show that inverted nano-pyramid patterns with correlated disorder provide typically greater efficiency than their periodic counterparts. However, the hole filling fraction of the etched pattern plays a crucial role and may limit the benefits of the correlated disorder due to experimental restrictions on pattern fabrication.

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“…Some of the optical analysis samples were prepared by solid phase crystallization by thermal annealing of amorphous silicon at 600 °C since it is a fast and easy process and optical material properties do not differ from LPC silicon in the wavelength range of interest being well below 900 nm. 21 Optical characterization was performed using a Perkin Elmer LAMBDA 1050 spectrometer featuring an integrating sphere. Open circuit-voltages (Voc) were obtained by Suns-Voc measurements carried out at room temperature using a SunsVoc unit of a WCT-100 photoconductance lifetime tool by Sinton Instruments.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sinusoidal nanotextures for light management in silicon thin-film solar cells

2016

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a Recent progresses in liquid phase crystallization enabled the fabrication of thin wafer quality crystalline silicon layers on low-cost glass substrates enabling conversion efficiencies up to 12.1%. Because of its indirect band gap, a thin silicon absorber layer demands for efficient measures for light management. However, the combination of high quality crystalline silicon and light trapping structures is still a critical issue. Here, we implement hexagonal 750 nm pitched sinusoidal and pillar shaped nanostructures at the sun-facing glass-silicon interface into 10 µm thin liquid phase crystallized silicon thinfilm solar cell devices on glass. Both structures are experimentally studied regarding their optical and optoelectronic properties. Reflection losses are reduced over the entire wavelength range outperforming state of the art anti-reflective planar layer systems. In case of the smooth sinusoidal nanostructures these optical achievements are accompanied by an excellent electronic material quality of the silicon absorber layer enabling open circuit voltages above 600 mV and solar cell device performances comparable to the planar reference device. For wavelengths smaller than 400 nm and higher than 700 nm optical achievements are translated into an enhanced quantum efficiency of the solar cell devices. Therefore, sinusoidal nanotextures are a well-balanced compromise between optical enhancement and maintained high electronic silicon material quality which opens a promising route for future optimizations in solar cell designs for silicon thin-film solar cells on glass.

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Nanophotonic light trapping in 3-dimensional thin-film silicon architectures

Cited by 21 publications

References 20 publications

Nanostructures for photon management in solar cells

Nanostructures for photon management in solar cells

A fair comparison between ultrathin crystalline-silicon solar cells with either periodic or correlated disorder inverted pyramid textures

Sinusoidal nanotextures for light management in silicon thin-film solar cells

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