Title :
A new analysis for solar cell efficiency: Rigorous electromagnetic approach
Author :
Niv, A. ; Gharghi, M. ; Gladden, C. ; Abrams, Z.R. ; Zhang, X.
Author_Institution :
NSF Nanoscale Sci. & Eng. Center (NSEC), Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Abstract :
Current methods for the evaluation of solar cell efficiency cannot be applied to extremely thin cells where phenomena from the realm of near-field optics prevail. We use the fluctuation dissipation theorem to calculate the rate of power removal from a semiconductor/metal system. This establishes for the first time, to our knowledge, a rigorous electromagnetic basis for solar cell efficiency analysis. We demonstrate our approach by calculating the efficiency of a Si solar cell with an Au back reflector.
Keywords :
elemental semiconductors; gold; silicon; solar cells; Au; Si; fluctuation dissipation theorem; gold back reflector; near-field optics; power removal rate; rigorous electromagnetic approach; semiconductor-metal system; silicon solar cell efficiency; Absorption; Electric potential; Electromagnetics; Gold; Photovoltaic cells; Plasmons; Silicon;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2011 37th IEEE
Conference_Location :
Seattle, WA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-9966-3
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2011.6186366
