Analysis of semiconductor nanowire arrays for photovoltaics

Author

Witzigmann, Bernd ; Yu, Shuqing ; Kupec, Jan

Author_Institution

Comput. Electron. & Photonics Group, Univ. of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

fYear

2011

fDate

12-16 Sept. 2011

Firstpage

528

Lastpage

531

Abstract

The electro-optical properties of nanowire array solar cells are analyzed with a microscopic simulation model. For the electromagnetic part, the vectorial Helmholtz equation is solved for the three-dimensional structure, and a modal analysis reveals the absorption mechanisms. The electronic part is analyzed with a drift-diffusion approach. It is shown that with a proper design, a III-V nanowire array solar cell can approach the efficiency of a thin-film solar cell, while only a fraction of the active material volume is used.

Keywords

Helmholtz equations; III-V semiconductors; modal analysis; nanowires; solar cell arrays; thin films; III-V nanowire array solar cell; absorption mechanisms; active material volume; drift-diffusion approach; electromagnetic part; electronic part; electrooptical properties; microscopic simulation model; modal analysis; nanowire array solar cells; photovoltaics; semiconductor nanowire arrays; thin-film solar cell; three-dimensional structure; vectorial Helmholtz equation; Absorption; Analytical models; Indexes; Materials; Mathematical model; Photovoltaic cells; Wires;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA), 2011 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Torino

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-976-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICEAA.2011.6046396

Filename

6046396