Optical absorption enhancement in 40 nm ultrathin film silicon solar cells assisted by photonic and plasmonic modes

Abstract

Presently, energy problems and environmental issues have attracted the scientific community for the development of cost-effective and high-performance solar cells. Thin film solar cells are cheaper but weak light absorption in longer wavelength has demanded an efficient light trapping scheme for the better harvesting of solar radiation to a maximum possibility. In this paper, we numerically explore the design efforts of an ultrathin film silicon solar cell, integrated with top dielectric and bottom metal gratings. The proposed design is influenced by the localized surface plasmon modes, surface plasmon polariton and optical resonances which leads to the optimal harvesting of sunlight within 40nm thick absorbing layer. The optimized design of solar cell shows enhanced light absorption with cell efficiency ∼25% at normal transverse magnetic polarization condition. Our design approach assisted by photonic and plasmonic modes is promising for the realization of new generation, low-cost ultrathin film solar cells.