Absorbing photonic crystals for mono-crystalline silicon thin film solar cells

Xianqin Meng; Valerie Depauw; Guillaume Gomard; Ounsi El Daif; Christos Trompoukis; Emmanuel Drouard; Cécile Jamois; Alain Fave; Frederic Dross; Ivan Gordon; Christian Seassal

doi:10.1117/12.922428

25 April 2012 Absorbing photonic crystals for mono-crystalline silicon thin film solar cells

Xianqin Meng, Valerie Depauw, Guillaume Gomard, Ounsi El Daif, Christos Trompoukis, Emmanuel Drouard, Cécile Jamois, Alain Fave, Frederic Dross, Ivan Gordon, Christian Seassal

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8425, Photonic Crystal Materials and Devices X; 84250R (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.922428
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2012, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

In this paper, we present the integration of an absorbing photonic crystal within a monocrystalline silicon thin film solar cell stack. Optical simulations performed on a complete solar cell revealed that patterning the epitaxial monocrystalline silicon active layer as a 1D and 2D photonic crystal enabled to increase its integrated absorption by 38%_rel and 50%_rel in the whole 300-1100 nm range, compared to a similar but unpatterned stack. In order to fabricate such promising cells, a specific fabrication process based on holographic lithography, inductively coupled plasma etching and reactive ion etching has been developed and implemented to obtain such photonic crystal patterned solar cells. Optical measurements performed on the patterned stacks highlight the significant absorption enhancement, as expected by simulation. A more advanced structuration combining a front and a rear 1D binary photonic patterning with different periods is designed, enabling a 60%_abs larger absorption in silicon.

Citation Download Citation

Xianqin Meng, Valerie Depauw, Guillaume Gomard, Ounsi El Daif, Christos Trompoukis, Emmanuel Drouard, Cécile Jamois, Alain Fave, Frederic Dross, Ivan Gordon, and Christian Seassal "Absorbing photonic crystals for mono-crystalline silicon thin film solar cells", Proc. SPIE 8425, Photonic Crystal Materials and Devices X, 84250R (25 April 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.922428

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