A study of the surface plasmon enhancement using ARC on thin film Si solar cell performance

Trapping light inside the solar cells can significantly boost their efficiency by minimizing the reflection losses at the front interface as well as the absorption losses in the solar cell by increasing the path length of incoming light. This study focuses on light trapping using antireflection coating (ARC). One of the simplest and most efficient types of ARC is called the quarter-wave transformer. Its great results make it a good and cheaper alternative for using metallic nanoparticles (MNPs). However, using MNPs with appropriate parameters might have a positive effect on the overall enhancement. In this work it was found that placing the NPs on the ARC surface give the best results compared to the other positions, whereas decreasing the overall refractive index of the device improves its behavior.