Title :
Absorption enhancement in conformally textured thin-film silicon solar cells
Author :
Thorp, David ; Campbell, Patrick ; Wenham, Stuart R.
Author_Institution :
Centre for Photovoltaic Devices & Syst., New South Wales Univ., Kensington, NSW, Australia
Abstract :
This paper investigates the antireflective and light trapping properties of thin silicon films conformally deposited on substrates textured with feature sizes greater than the film thickness. Ray tracing studies show that 3D textures can provide a significant advantage over grooves, and with small enough features can out-perform Lambertian light-trapping. Excellent antireflection properties and re-entry of escaping rays are responsible for the good performance. The reduced scatter with large textures can be compensated for by adding a mildly scattering sub-facet microtexture. Reflectance measurements of a conformal a-Si:H film show good agreement with predictions
Keywords :
amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; hydrogen; light absorption; optical variables measurement; reflectivity; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; substrates; surface texture; Si; Si solar cells; Si:H; a-Si:H solar cells; absorption enhancement; antireflective properties; conformal a-Si:H film; conformally textured thin-film silicon solar cells; escaping rays re-entry; light trapping properties; ray tracing; reflectance measurements; sub-facet microtexture; textured substrates; Absorption; Costs; Light scattering; Optical films; Photovoltaic cells; Semiconductor films; Semiconductor thin films; Silicon; Substrates; Surface texture;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3166-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1996.564227
