Photon management by metallic nanodiscs in thin film solar cells

We investigate the absorption enhancement by metallic nanodiscs in thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells. The effect is quantitatively evaluated by rigorously solving Maxwell’s equations. We show that 50% more photons can be absorbed using geometries accessible for current nanofabrication technologies. Moreover, the thinner the solar cell, the larger the absorption enhancement. Detailed investigations prove that the enhancement can be related to the excitation of localized plasmon polaritons. The simultaneous enhancement in both the near-field amplitude and the scattering cross section at resonance as the leading physical mechanism is discussed in detail.

[1]  Carsten Rockstuhl,et al.  3D photonic crystal intermediate reflector for micromorph thin‐film tandem solar cell , 2008 .

[2]  Jean-Jacques Greffet,et al.  Enhanced absorption by nanostructured silicon , 2008 .

[3]  Carsten Rockstuhl,et al.  Absorption enhancement in solar cells by localized plasmon polaritons , 2008 .

[4]  Peter Bermel,et al.  Demonstration of enhanced absorption in thin film Si solar cells with textured photonic crystal back reflector , 2008 .

[5]  Lifeng Li,et al.  New formulation of the Fourier modal method for crossed surface-relief gratings , 1997 .

[6]  Harry A. Atwater,et al.  Plasmonic nanoparticle enhanced light absorption in GaAs solar cells , 2008 .

[7]  M. T. Gale,et al.  Coated submicron gratings for broadband antireflection in solar energy applications , 1996 .

[8]  Albert Polman,et al.  Design principles for particle plasmon enhanced solar cells , 2008 .

[9]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Long-range absorption enhancement in organic tandem thin-film solar cells containing silver nanoclusters , 2004 .

[10]  Bernd Rech,et al.  Intrinsic microcrystalline silicon: A new material for photovoltaics , 2000 .

[11]  Carl Hägglund,et al.  Electromagnetic coupling of light into a silicon solar cell by nanodisk plasmons , 2008 .

[12]  P. Würfel.  Physics of solar cells : from principles to new concepts , 2005 .

[13]  R. W. Christy,et al.  Optical Constants of the Noble Metals , 1972 .

[14]  Michael Vollmer,et al.  Optical properties of metal clusters , 1995 .

[15]  F. Lederer,et al.  Engineering the randomness for enhanced absorption in solar cells , 2008 .