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Optical absorption losses in metal layers used in thin film solar cells
Author(s) -
Remes Zdenek,
Holovsky Jakub,
Purkrt Adam,
Izak Tibor,
Poruba Ales,
Vanecek Milan,
Dagkaldiran Ümit,
Yates Heather M.,
Evans Philip,
Sheel David W.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.200925432
Subject(s) - materials science , thin film , dielectric , transmittance , absorptance , optics , optoelectronics , absorption (acoustics) , photothermal therapy , spectroscopy , dielectric function , composite material , reflectivity , nanotechnology , physics , quantum mechanics
We apply optical transmittance and reflectance spectroscopy, photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS) and laser calorimetry (LC) to evaluate optical absorption losses at rough interface between thin conductive oxide (TCO) and metal films used as backreflectors and electrical contacts in thin film solar cells. The paper proposes a simple method how to model the dielectric function of rough metal layers used in thin film solar cells. We show that the rough metal layer optically behaves as a semi‐infinite layer with modified dielectric function calculated by the Landau–Lifshitz–Looyenga (LLL) model from the dielectric function of a smooth metal, the dielectric function of TCO and just one free parameter that needs to be found by fitting the total optical absorptance. This approach can be used to simplify the modelling of the optical properties of thin film solar cells.