Optical confinement in thin silicon films: a comprehensive ray optical theory

Author

Sopori, Bhushan L. ; Marshall, Todd

Author_Institution

Nat. Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO, USA

fYear

1993

fDate

10-14 May 1993

Firstpage

127

Lastpage

132

Abstract

This paper describes a ray-optics theory to analyze optical confinement in silicon solar cells using random or periodically rough surfaces. This theory considers multireflections within the cell. It also takes into account polarization and interference effects to include antireflection coatings and local nonnormal incidence of light. The results are given in terms of parameters such as reflectance, transmittance, and absorbance for global AM1.5 illumination. A variety of thin-film structures, suitable for light trapping, are compared in terms of the maximum achievable current densities. The paper emphasizes optical concepts that are necessary to design thin-film solar cells using nonplanar interfaces

Keywords

antireflection coatings; current density; elemental semiconductors; light interference; light polarisation; light reflection; optical design techniques; ray tracing; semiconductor device models; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; Si; absorbance; antireflection coatings; current densities; design; global illumination; interference; light trapping; multireflections; nonplanar interfaces; optical confinement; polarization; ray optical theory; reflectance; rough surfaces; thin-film solar cells; transmittance; Coatings; Interference; Optical films; Optical polarization; Photovoltaic cells; Reflectivity; Rough surfaces; Semiconductor films; Silicon; Surface roughness;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1993., Conference Record of the Twenty Third IEEE

Conference_Location

Louisville, KY

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1220-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1993.347066

Filename

347066