Silicon nanopowder as diffuse rear reflector for silicon solar cells

Abstract

Highly efficient solar cells require minimized recombination and maximized optical absorption. We apply Si nanopowder with a median particle size of 500 nm to the rear side of poly-Si on oxide (POLO) passivated Si wafers that have a planar front side. The enhanced optical absorption consists of a useful component from the wafer and useless absorption by the Si pigments and the poly-Si layer. We derive and successfully apply an analytical model that accounts for both contributions and for the light trapping that is caused by light scattering at the nanopowder layer. We measure and model that this rear side increases the photogenerated current density by 1.3 mA/cm2 for a 140 μm-thick planar cell. We compare the performance of the Si-pigmented diffuse rear side reflectors (PDR) with reflectors using random pyramids (RPs) and POLO junctions. We find that for full surface coverage by Si nanopowder, the better surface passivation compensates for an inferior optical performance of a PDR when compared to RP.