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Conformal films for light‐trapping in thin silicon solar cells
Author(s) -
Thorp David,
Campbell Patrick,
Wenham Stuart R.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-159x(199605/06)4:3<205::aid-pip130>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - silicon , optics , materials science , ray tracing (physics) , groove (engineering) , reflection (computer programming) , reflector (photography) , optoelectronics , texture (cosmology) , ray , substrate (aquarium) , solar cell , physics , light source , computer science , image (mathematics) , oceanography , artificial intelligence , metallurgy , programming language , geology
The anti‐reflection and light‐trapping performance of thin silicon films deposited conformally on V‐grooved substrates is investigated by ray‐tracing for a wide range of groove angles and period widths. The tracing is done with incident light rays at angles representative of typical Sydney yearly illumination. Using a double‐layer antireflection coating and a SiO 2 /Ag reflector, the best result predicted was for asymmetric grooves, with a short‐circuit current density of 35.2 mA/cm 2 for a deposited film thickness of 6μm, which is 96% of what could be achieved with a perfectly randomising cell of the same silicon volume per unit module area. For best results, the period of the texture should not be very much greater than the thickness of the film. Larger periods are useful if combined with partially randomising surfaces. In both cases, a mechanism that gives escaping rays a good chance of re‐entering the silicon is responsible for the good performance. Performance is limited by glass reflection and the restriction of scatter to only two dimensions. New structures are proposed to overcome these limitations.