Study on AlxGa1-xAs nanocones with variable Al composition structures for highly efficient light trapping

Abstract

In this study, various AlxGa1-xAs nanostructure arrays with variable Al composition are proposed and designed for highly efficient light capture. The optical properties of the proposed nanocone array with variable Al composition have been numerically investigated by COMSOL Multiphysics package based on the finite element method (FEM), and compared with the counterparts of cylinder and conical frustum. The results show that the variable composition AlxGa1-xAs nanocones with uniform sublayer distribution thickness can obtain an ultimate efficiency of 37.3%, which is higher than that of the cylindrical and conical frustum structures under the same conditions. In addition, the effects of geometric parameters of nanostructures on the light absorption of nanoarrays with different shape changing components are studied. Taking the variable component AlxGa1-xAs nanocone structure as an example, increasing the Al component range in the axial direction of the nanocone can significantly improve the absorption of short-wavelength light, which increases the overall absorption efficiency. In addition, for a specific Al composition distribution range, a uniform thickness distribution design of unit sub-layer in nanocone along the z-axis direction can provide optical absorption enhancement of more than 1.8% and 0.9% over than the decreasing and increasing distribution design. The design principles proposed in this work will provide a reference for selecting appropriate parameters in solar cell applications.