Blaze gratings as light trapping structures for enhancing cell efficiency of thin-film crystalline silicon solar cells
Journal
IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
Pages
1589-1591
Date Issued
2010
Author(s)
Abstract
The authors studied the influence of blaze gratings on the enhancement of effective optical absorption in thin-film crystalline silicon (TF-cSi) solar cells. Polarization dependent two-dimensional (2D) numerical simulations based on rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) and finite element method (FEM) are implemented for the optimization of optical absorption of the solar cell structure. We found a rather large tolerance in design parameters of the optimized blaze grating structure. The optimized blaze grating structures help in improving the cell efficiency, especially for weak absorption thin cell structures. The enhancement of equivalent optical path length reveals the efficient light trapping effect caused by the diffractions of the blaze grating structures, especially in the long wavelength range. Incorporated with the optimized antireflection coating and blaze-grating structure, the 2-μm cell shows an enhancement of cell efficiency up to 40.5%, 43.5%, and 42.0% for S-polarization, P-polarization, and non-polarized cases, respectively. Such a simple blaze-grating thin-film solar cell structure is promising for low-cost and high-efficient solar cell applications. © 2010 IEEE.
SDGs
Other Subjects
Blaze grating; Cell efficiency; Crystalline silicon solar cells; Crystalline silicons; Design parameters; Grating structures; Light trapping effects; Light trapping structures; Long-wavelength-range; Numerical simulation; Optical absorption; Optical path lengths; P-polarization; Rigorous coupled wave analysis; Solar cell structures; Solar-cell applications; Thin cells; Thin-film solar cells; Weak absorption; Absorption; Antireflection coatings; Crystalline materials; Diffraction gratings; Finite element method; Light absorption; Numerical methods; Optimization; Photovoltaic effects; Polarization; Solar cells; Cytology
Type
conference paper