Enhanced Absorption in InP Nanodisk Arrays on Ultra-Thin-Film Silicon for Solar Cell Applications
The photovoltaic (PV) market today is dominated by silicon (Si)-based solar cells, which, however, can be improved in performance and cost by developing technologies that use less material. We propose an indium phosphide (InP) nanoresonator array on silicon ultra-thin film with a combined thickness...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Photonics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/9/3/157 |
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| author | Mikko Kjellberg Ajith Padyana Ravishankar Srinivasan Anand |
| author_facet | Mikko Kjellberg Ajith Padyana Ravishankar Srinivasan Anand |
| author_sort | Mikko Kjellberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The photovoltaic (PV) market today is dominated by silicon (Si)-based solar cells, which, however, can be improved in performance and cost by developing technologies that use less material. We propose an indium phosphide (InP) nanoresonator array on silicon ultra-thin film with a combined thickness of 0.5 μm to 2 μm as a solution to minimize cost and maximize power efficiency. This paper focuses on simultaneously achieving broadband antireflection and enhanced absorption in thin-film Si with integrated InP nanodisk arrays. Electromagnetic simulations are used to design and optimize the reflectance and absorption of the proposed design. By varying the height and radius of the InP nanodisks on the Si substrate, together with the array pitch, a weighted reflectance minimum, with respect to the AM1.5 solar spectrum, of 2.9% is obtained in the wavelength range of 400 nm to 1100 nm. The antireflective properties are found to be a combination of a Mie-resonance-induced strong forward-scattering into the structure and an effective index-matching to the Si substrate. In terms of absorption, even up to 2 μm from the Si surface the InP nanodisk/Si structure consistently shows superior performance compared to plain Si as well as a Si nanodisk/Si structure. At a depth of 500 nm from the surface of the substrate, the absorption values were found to be 47.5% for the InP nanodisk/Si structure compared to only 18.2% for a plain Si substrate. This shows that direct bandgap InP nanoresonator arrays on thin-film Si solar cells can be a novel design to enhance the absorption efficiency of the cell. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:56:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3c032e76b3644f8e9daed730c8bf5bd6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2304-6732 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:56:43Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Photonics |
| spelling | doaj.art-3c032e76b3644f8e9daed730c8bf5bd62023-11-30T21:59:00ZengMDPI AGPhotonics2304-67322022-03-019315710.3390/photonics9030157Enhanced Absorption in InP Nanodisk Arrays on Ultra-Thin-Film Silicon for Solar Cell ApplicationsMikko Kjellberg0Ajith Padyana Ravishankar1Srinivasan Anand2Department of Applied Physics, School of Engineering Sciences, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Albanova University Center, SE 10691 Stockholm, SwedenDepartment of Applied Physics, School of Engineering Sciences, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Albanova University Center, SE 10691 Stockholm, SwedenDepartment of Applied Physics, School of Engineering Sciences, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Albanova University Center, SE 10691 Stockholm, SwedenThe photovoltaic (PV) market today is dominated by silicon (Si)-based solar cells, which, however, can be improved in performance and cost by developing technologies that use less material. We propose an indium phosphide (InP) nanoresonator array on silicon ultra-thin film with a combined thickness of 0.5 μm to 2 μm as a solution to minimize cost and maximize power efficiency. This paper focuses on simultaneously achieving broadband antireflection and enhanced absorption in thin-film Si with integrated InP nanodisk arrays. Electromagnetic simulations are used to design and optimize the reflectance and absorption of the proposed design. By varying the height and radius of the InP nanodisks on the Si substrate, together with the array pitch, a weighted reflectance minimum, with respect to the AM1.5 solar spectrum, of 2.9% is obtained in the wavelength range of 400 nm to 1100 nm. The antireflective properties are found to be a combination of a Mie-resonance-induced strong forward-scattering into the structure and an effective index-matching to the Si substrate. In terms of absorption, even up to 2 μm from the Si surface the InP nanodisk/Si structure consistently shows superior performance compared to plain Si as well as a Si nanodisk/Si structure. At a depth of 500 nm from the surface of the substrate, the absorption values were found to be 47.5% for the InP nanodisk/Si structure compared to only 18.2% for a plain Si substrate. This shows that direct bandgap InP nanoresonator arrays on thin-film Si solar cells can be a novel design to enhance the absorption efficiency of the cell.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/9/3/157thin-film solar cellInPantireflectionMie resonatorsabsorptionnanodisks |
| spellingShingle | Mikko Kjellberg Ajith Padyana Ravishankar Srinivasan Anand Enhanced Absorption in InP Nanodisk Arrays on Ultra-Thin-Film Silicon for Solar Cell Applications Photonics thin-film solar cell InP antireflection Mie resonators absorption nanodisks |
| title | Enhanced Absorption in InP Nanodisk Arrays on Ultra-Thin-Film Silicon for Solar Cell Applications |
| title_full | Enhanced Absorption in InP Nanodisk Arrays on Ultra-Thin-Film Silicon for Solar Cell Applications |
| title_fullStr | Enhanced Absorption in InP Nanodisk Arrays on Ultra-Thin-Film Silicon for Solar Cell Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhanced Absorption in InP Nanodisk Arrays on Ultra-Thin-Film Silicon for Solar Cell Applications |
| title_short | Enhanced Absorption in InP Nanodisk Arrays on Ultra-Thin-Film Silicon for Solar Cell Applications |
| title_sort | enhanced absorption in inp nanodisk arrays on ultra thin film silicon for solar cell applications |
| topic | thin-film solar cell InP antireflection Mie resonators absorption nanodisks |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/9/3/157 |
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