Enhancement of solar cells with photonic and plasmonic crystals - Overcoming the Lambertian limit

Journal of Materials Research

Volumn 28, Issue 8, 2013, Pages 1021-1030

  Biswas, Rana ^a,b   Pattnaik, Sambit ^b   Xu, Chun ^a   Bhattacharya, Joydeep ^b   Chakravarty, Nayan ^b   Dalal, Vikram ^b  

^a IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b Iowa State University   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVICE ARCHITECTURES; HYDROGENATED NANOCRYSTALLINE SILICON (NC-SI:H); LIGHT CONCENTRATION; NEAR-INFRARED PHOTONS; PHYSICAL MECHANISM; SCATTERING MECHANISMS; TEXTURED SUBSTRATES; THIN-FILM SOLAR CELLS;

LIGHT; NANOSTRUCTURES; PLASMONS; QUANTUM EFFICIENCY; SILICON;

SOLAR CELLS;

EID: 84876402817     PISSN: 08842914     EISSN: 20445326     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2013.41     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. J.A. Dionne and H.A. Atwater: Plasmonics: Metal-worthy methods and materials in nanophotonics. MRS Bull. 37, 717 (2012).
2. R.E.I. Schropp and M. Zeman: Amorphous and Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells: Modeling, Materials, and Device Technology (Kluwer Academic, Boston, MA, 1998).
3. A.V. Shah, H. Schade, M. Vanecek, J. Meier, E. Vallat-Sauvain, N. Wyrsch, U. Kroll, C. Droz, and J. Bailat: Thin-film silicon solar cell technology. Prog. Photovoltaics Res. Appl. 12:113-142 (2004). (Pubitemid 38464403)
4. G.Z. Yue, L. Sivec, J.M. Owens, B.J. Yan, J. Yang, and S. Guha: Optimization of back reflector for high efficiency hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 263501 (2009).
5. C. Battaglia, J. Escarre, K. Soderstrom, L. Erni, L. Ding, G. Bugnon, A. Billet, M. Boccard, L. Barraud, S. DeWolf, F.J. Haug, M. Despeisse, and C. Ballif: Nanoimprint lithography for high-efficiency thin-film silicon solar cells. Nano Lett. 11, 661 (2011).
6. G.Z. Yue, L. Sivec, B. Yan, J. Yang, and S. Guha: High efficiency hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon solar cells deposited at high rates. In Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology-2010, edited by Q. Wang, B. Yan, A. Flewitt, C-C. Tsai, and S. Higashi (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. 1245, Warrendale, PA, 2010), p. 441. 1245-A21-01.
7. O. Isabella, J. Krc, and M. Zeman: Modulated surface textures for enhanced light trapping in thin-film silicon solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 101106 (2010).
8. C. Battaglia, J. Escarré, K. Soderstrom, M. Charrière, M. Despeisse, F-J. Haug, and C. Ballif: Nanomoulding of transparent zinc oxide electrodes for efficient light trapping in solar cells. Nat. Photonics 5, 535 (2011).
9. V.E. Ferry, M.A. Verschuuren, H.B.T. Li, R.J. Walters, R.E.I. Schropp, H.A. Atwater, and A. Polman: Light trapping in ultrathin plasmonic solar cells. Opt. Exp. 18, A237-A245 (2010).
10. H. Sai and M. Kondo: Effect of self-orderly textured back reflectors on light trapping in thin-film microcrystalline silicon solar cells. J. Appl. Phys. 105, 094511 (2009).
11. B. Curtin, R. Biswas, and V. Dalal: Photonic crystal based back reflectors for light management and enhanced absorption in amorphous silicon solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 231102 (2009).
12. J. Bhattacharya, N. Chakravarty, S. Pattnaik, W.D. Slafer, R. Biswas, and V.L. Dalal: A novel photonic-plasmonic structure for enhancing light absorption in thin film solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 131114 (2011).
13. V.E. Ferry, M.A. Verschuuren, H.B.T. Li, R.E.I. Schropp, H.A. Atwater, and A. Polman: Improved red-response in thin film a-Si:H solar cells with soft-imprinted plasmonic back reflectors. Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 183503 (2009).
14. V.E. Ferry, M.A. Verschuuren, M.C. van Lare, R.E.I. Schropp, H.A. Atwater, and A. Polman: Optimized spatial correlations for broadband light trapping nanopatterns in high efficiency ultrathin film a-Si:H solar cells. Nano Lett. 11, 4239 (2011).
15. V. Gusak, B. Kasemo, and C. Hagglund: Thickness dependence of plasmonic carrier generation in ultra thin a-Si:H layers for solar cells. ACS Nano 8, 6218 (2011).
16. H. Tan, R. Santbergen, A.H.M. Smets, and M. Zeman: Plasmonic light trapping in thin-film silicon solar cells with improved selfassembled silver nanoparticles. Nano Lett. 12, 4070 (2012).
17. E. Yablonovitch: Statistical ray optics. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72, 899- 907 (1982).
18. T. Tiedje, E. Yablonovitch, G.D. Cody, and B. Brooks: Limiting efficiency of silicon solar cells. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 31, 711-716 (1984). (Pubitemid 14582426)
19. E.A. Schiff: Thermodynamic limit to photonic-plasmonic lighttrapping in thin films on metals. J. Appl. Phys. 110, 104501 (2011).
20. R. Biswas and C. Xu: Nano-crystalline silicon solar cell architecture with absorption at the classical 4n2 limit. Opt. Exp. 19, A664 (2011).
21. Z. Yu, A. Raman, and S. Fan: Fundamental limit of nanophotonic light trapping in solar cells. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 107(41), 17491- 17496 (2010).
22. J. Springer, A. Poruba, L. Mullerova, M. Vanecek, O. Kluth, and B. Rech: Absorption loss at nanorough silver back reflector of thinfilm silicon solar cells. J. Appl. Phys. 95, 1427 (2004).
23. D. Zhou and R. Biswas: Photonic crystal enhanced light-trapping in thin film solar cells. J. Appl. Phys. 103, 093102 (2008).
24. P. Bermel, C. Luo, L. Zeng, L.C. Kimerling, and J. Joannopoulos: Improving solar cell efficiencies with photonic crystals. Opt. Exp. 15, 16986 (2007).
25. H. Atwater and A. Polman: Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices. Nat. Photonics 9, 205 (2010).
26. S. Pillai, K.R. Catchpole, T. Trupke, and M.A. Green: Surface plasmon enhanced solar cells. J. Appl. Phys. 101(9), 093105 (2007).
27. L.R. Dahal, D. Sainju, J. Li, J.A. Stoke, N. Podraza, X. Deng, and R.W. Collins: Plasmonic characteristics of Ag/ZnO back-reflectors for thin film Si photovoltaics. Proceedings 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, San Diego, CA, 2008. pp. 1-6.
28. Z.Y. Li and L.L. Lin: Photonic band structures by a plane-wavebased transfer matrix method. Phys. Rev. E 67, 046607 (2003).
29. F.J. Haug, K. Soderstrom, A. Naqavi, and C. Ballif: Resonances and absorption enhancement in thin film silicon solar cells with periodic interface texture. J. Appl. Phys. 109, 084516 (2011).
30. G. Yue, B.J. Yan, L. Sivec, T. Su, Y. Zhou, J. Yang, and S. Guha: Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon based solar cell with 13.6% stable efficiency. In Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology-2012, edited by B. Yan, H. Gleskova, C-C. Tsai, T. Sameshima, and J.D. Cohen (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 1426, Warrendale, PA, 2012), pp. 33-38, doi: 10.1557/opl.2012.834.
31. S. Pattnaik, N. Chakravarty, D. Slafer, R. Biswas, and V. Dalal: Light-trapping in thin film silicon solar cells with a combination of periodic and randomly textured back-reflectors. In Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology-2012, edited by B. Yan, H. Gleskova, C-C. Tsai, T. Sameshima, and J.D. Cohen (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 1426, Warrendale, PA, 2012), pp. 117-123. doi: 10.1557/opl.2012.888. 11.