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Absorption enhancement of an amorphous Si solar cell through surface plasmon-induced scattering with metal nanoparticles

Fu-Ji Tsai, Jyh-Yang Wang, Jeng-Jie Huang, Yean-Woei Kiang, and C. C. Yang

Open Access Open Access

Abstract

The simulation results of absorption enhancement in an amorphous-Si (a-Si) solar cell by depositing metal nanoparticles (NPs) on the device top and embedding metal NPs in a layer above the Al back-reflector are demonstrated. The absorption increase results from the near-field constructive interference of electromagnetic waves in the forward direction such that an increased amount of sunlight energy is distributed in the a-Si absorption layer. Among the three used metals of Al, Ag, and Au, Al NPs show the most efficient absorption enhancement. Between the two used NP geometries, Al nanocylinder (NC) are more effective in absorption enhancement than Al nanosphere (NS). Also, a random distribution of isolated metal NCs can lead to higher absorption enhancement, when compared with the cases of periodical metal NC distributions. Meanwhile, the fabrication of both top and bottom Al NCs in a solar cell results in further absorption enhancement. Misalignments between the top and bottom Al NCs do not significantly reduce the enhancement percentage. With a structure of vertically aligned top and bottom Al NCs, solar cell absorption can be increased by 52%.

©2010 Optical Society of America

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Figures (14)
Fig. 1
Fig. 1 (a) Solar cell structure in a simulation window with an NP on the top; (b) Solar cell structure in one-half the simulation window with a metal NP on the top and another metal NP in the bottom ITO layer contacting the bottom Al layer.

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Fig. 2
Fig. 2 Used refractive index and absorption coefficient of a-Si for simulations obtained from Refs. 34 and 35.

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Fig. 3
Fig. 3 Photon absorption rates as functions of wavelength with Al, Ag, Au, and SiO2 NCs on the top of a solar cell. For comparison, the reference case, in which no NP is used, and the photon flux of AM 1.5G are also demonstrated.

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Fig. 4
Fig. 4 Phase differences as functions of wavelength between the unperturbed and scattered fields when Al, Ag, Au, and SiO2 NCs are used in the solar cell structure shown in Fig. 1(a).

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Fig. 5
Fig. 5 Photon absorption rates as functions of wavelength with Al, Ag, Au, and SiO2 NSs on the top of solar cells. For comparison, the reference case, in which no NP is used, and the photon flux of AM 1.5G are also demonstrated.

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Fig. 6
Fig. 6 Phase differences as functions of wavelength between the unperturbed and scattered fields when Al, Ag, Au, and SiO2 NSs are used in the solar cell structure shown in Fig. 1(a).

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Fig. 7
Fig. 7 Distributions of electrical intensity enhancement ratios (over that of the reference case) within the a-Si regions in the x-z plane. Here, x = 0 corresponds to the center of the NP. The two horizontal white dashed lines represent the boundaries between the p-type and intrinsic a-Si layers and between the intrinsic and n-type layers. Parts (a)-(h) correspond to the cases of Al NC at 525 nm (enhanced), Ag NC at 600 nm (enhanced), Ag NC at 405 nm (suppressed), SiO2 NC at 525 nm (enhanced), Al NS at 525 nm (enhanced), Ag NS at 525 nm (enhanced), Ag NS at 405 nm (suppressed), and SiO2 NS at 525 nm (enhanced), respectively.

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Fig. 8
Fig. 8 Comparisons of photon absorption rate between the cases of periodical top metal NC distributions (curves of periodic Al, periodic Ag, and periodic Au) and single top metal NP configurations (curves of single Al, single Ag, and single Au). The curves of reference (no NP) and photon flux of AM 1.5G are also shown for comparison.

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Fig. 9
Fig. 9 Distributions of electrical intensity enhancement ratios (over that of the reference case) at 500 nm in wavelength in the x-y plane at the depth of 65 nm from the top surface of the p-a-Si layer with the circles centered at the centers of an Al NC (a) and an Ag NC (b) of 100 nm in diameter on the device top. The values of D in nm indicate the diameters of the white dashed circular curves.

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Fig. 10
Fig. 10 Enhancement ratios as functions of effective absorption diameter with respect to the reference case when single Al, Ag, and Au NCs are individually placed at the device top, corresponding to the data in Figs. 8 and 9.

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Fig. 11
Fig. 11 Photon absorption rates as functions of wavelength in the cases of periodical top Al NC distribution (top), bottom Al NC distribution (bottom), and both top and bottom Al NC distributions (double). In the case of double NCs, the top and bottom NCs are vertically aligned. The curves of the reference condition (no NP) and AM 1.5G are also shown for comparison.

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Fig. 12
Fig. 12 Distributions of electrical intensity enhancement ratios (over that of the reference case) within the a-Si regions in the x-z plane of the cases in Fig. 11 with (a)-(c) for the cases of top NC, (d)-(f) for the cases of bottom NC, and (g)-(i) for the cases of double NCs. The corresponding wavelengths are 525 nm in (a), (d), and (g), 600 nm in (b), (e), and (h), and 675 nm in (c), (f), and (i). The two horizontal white dashed lines represent the boundaries between the p-type and intrinsic a-Si layers and between the intrinsic and n-type layers.

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Fig. 13
Fig. 13 Photon absorption rates as functions of wavelength in various cases of double Al NCs with the vertical alignment shifted horizontally by one-quarter (Λ/4 shift) and one-half (Λ/2 shift) the period (Λ) in the x- and y directions. The incident sunlight is assumed to be x-polarized. The curves of no shift, reference, and AM 1.5G are also shown for comparison.

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Fig. 14
Fig. 14 Distributions of electrical intensity enhancement ratios (over that of the reference case) within the a-Si regions in the x-z plane of the cases in Fig. 13 with (a)-(c) for the case of Λ/4 shift-x, (d)-(f) for the case of Λ/2 shift-x, (g)-(i) for the case of Λ/4 shift-y, and (j)-(l) for the case of Λ/2 shift-y. The corresponding wavelengths are 525 nm in (a), (d), (g), and (j), 600 nm in (b), (e), (h), and (k), and 675 nm in (c), (f), (i), and (l). The two horizontal white dashed lines represent the boundaries between the p-type and intrinsic a-Si layers and between the intrinsic and n-type layers.

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Tables (3)

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Table 1 Integrated photon absorption rates and their ratios with respect to the reference level of various cases in Figs. 3 and 5. The photon absorption rate of AM 1.5G covers the whole solar spectral range.

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Table 2 Integrated photon absorption rates and their ratios with respect to the reference level of various cases in Fig. 8. The photon absorption rate of AM 1.5G covers the whole solar spectral range.

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Table 3 Integrated photon absorption rates and their ratios with respect to the reference level of various cases in Figs. 11 and 12. The photon absorption rate of AM 1.5G covers the whole solar spectral range.

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