Simulation on Absorption Enhancement of a Thin-Film Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell through Surface Plasmon Coupling with a Metal Grating
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Lin, Hung-Yu
Abstract
By using the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics which is based on the finite element method (FEM), the absorption effects of the thin-film amorphous silicon solar cell with one-dimensional or two-dimensional metal grating structures are numerically investigated. The solar cell structure consists of three parts: an ITO layer as the top contact, an amorphous silicon layer and a metal Ag grating layer as the back contact. The light source adopted is with the AM1.5G solar spectrum, and different incident angles and grating heights are changed to investigate the influences on the absorption of the solar cell. The thin-film solar cell with metal grating back contact can form the graded-refractive index layer on the surface. Based on the characteristic of the amorphous silicon, the poorly absorbed red light can couple into the surface plasmon mode in the back metal grating contact. The absorption of the solar cell can be enhanced due to the generation of surface wave resonance and scattering. The device combines advantages of both reduced reflection and enhanced absorption over a broad spectral range. The solar cells with the grating structures compared with the reference case of a flat metal surface back contact. The absorption enhancement of the solar cell can reach 56% at best with the appropriate grating design.
Subjects
solar cell
surface plasmons
anti-reflection
absorption enhancement
metal grating
Type
thesis
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