Abstract
Vertically aligned silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were cost-effectively formed on a four-inch silicon wafer using a simple room temperature approach, i.e., metal-assisted electroless etching. Tapering the NWs by post-KOH dipping achieved separation of each NW from the bunched NW, resulting in a strong enhancement of broadband optical absorption. As electroless etching time increases, the optical crossover feature was observed in the tradeoff between enhanced light trapping (by graded-refractive index during initial tapering) and deteriorated reflectance (by decreasing the areal density of NWs during later tapering). Compared to the bunched SiNWs, tapered NW solar cells demonstrated superior photovoltaic characteristics, such as a short circuit current of 17.67 mA/cm2 and a cell conversion efficiency of ~6.56% under 1.5 AM illumination.
©2010 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Yung-Jr Hung, San-Liang Lee, Kai-Chung Wu, Yian Tai, and Yen-Ting Pan
Opt. Express 19(17) 15792-15802 (2011)
Ya-Ju Lee, Yung-Chi Yao, and Chia-Hao Yang
Opt. Express 21(S1) A7-A14 (2013)
Keya Zhou, Zhongyi Guo, Xiaopeng Li, Jin-Young Jung, Sang-Won Jee, Kwang-Tae Park, Han-Don Um, Ning Wang, and Jung-Ho Lee
Opt. Express 20(S5) A777-A787 (2012)