Design of Nanostructured Solar Cells Using Coupled Optical and Electrical Modeling - eScholarship

TLDR: It is demonstrated that nanostructures can be tailored to minimize absorption in the doped a-Si:H, improving carrier collection efficiency and suggesting a method for device optimization in which optical design not only maximizes absorption, but also ensures resulting carriers are efficiently collected.

Abstract: Design of Nanostructured Solar Cells Using Coupled Optical and Electrical Modeling Michael G. Deceglie † , Vivian E. Ferry ‡ , A. Paul Alivisatos ‡ , and Harry A. Atwater* ,† Thomas J. Watson Laboratories of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, United States Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States Abstract: Nanostructured light trapping has emerged as a promising route toward improved efficiency in solar cells. We use coupled optical and electrical modeling to guide optimization of such nanostructures. We study thin-film n-i-p a-Si:H devices and demonstrate that nanostructures can be tailored to minimize absorption in the doped a-Si:H, improving carrier collection efficiency. This suggests a method for device optimization in which optical design not only maximizes absorption, but also ensures resulting carriers are efficiently collected. Keywords: Thin film solar cells, plasmon, nanophotonic, light trapping, simulation, device physics, silicon, photovoltaics In order to maximize solar cell efficiency, it is necessary to optimize both the electrical device physics and the optical absorption of the device. Typically, these two problems are treated separately,