Photonic band gap analysis of 1D TiO₂/SiO₂ photonic crystals using plane wave method for thin film solar cell applications

Abstract

The properties of photonic crystals that allow or inhibit the propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves in between photonic band gap (PBG) regimes have proved to be significant. In this work, we investigated the PBG analysis of one-dimensional TiO2/SiO2 photonic crystal using plane wave method (PWM). The PBG width depends of on the various optical parameters such as lattice constant (Λ), center wavelength (λc), thickness of the layers (d), dielectric constant (ε) and refractive indices (n). Among various parameters, the center wavelength (300-1100nm), the thickness of TiO2 (28-103 nm) and SiO2 (51-189 nm) layers were optimized for the tuned bandgap. The obtained results revealed that the PBG shifting towards the lower frequency region and reducing the size due to the increment of center wavelength and thicknesses. This result is useful for the understanding the way of photon propagation within artificial structure and it could be possible for the better back reflector in thin film solar cells.

Photonic Crystal Structures for Photovoltaic Applications

“…There have been a large number of propositions for using PCs as a back reflectors ( Figure 8 ): 1D binary PCs (DBR) [ 23 , 26 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 ] 1D ternary PCs [ 24 ] Combination of a reflection grating and 1D PCs [ 105 , 106 ] Textured conductive PCs (TCPC) [ 107 ] 2D PCs [ 108 , 109 ] Combination of 1D and 2D PCs [ 94 ] 3D inverse opals [ 110 , 111 ] …”

“…• 1D binary PCs (DBR) [23,26,[97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104] • 1D ternary PCs [24] • Combination of a reflection grating and 1D PCs [105,106] • Textured conductive PCs (TCPC) [ Thanks to the PBG, photonic crystals can reflect up to 100% [95,102] of incident light over the PBG wavelength range. That is challenging to achieve using metal and dielectric mirrors.…”