paper 150305145740

Published: 2015-07-09

Fabrication of a Nanoscale Plasmonic Fishnet Structure for the Enhancement of Absorption in Thin Film Solar Cells

Vinay Budhraja,

Vinay Budhraja

University of Arkansas, USA

Homepage

Liming Ji,

Liming Ji

University of Arkansas, USA

Homepage

Sayan Seal,

Sayan Seal

University of Arkansas, USA

Homepage

Vasundara Venkataraman Varadan

University of Arkansas, USA

Homepage

Proceedings of 2015 Photonics & Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Prague, July 6 - 9，Page(s)1489-1493

Abstract

Incorporating plasmonic structures in the back spacer layer of thin film solar cells (TFSC’s) is an efficient way to increase the yield. The plasmonic fishnet structure is one such geometry using which this effect can be realized. Numerical simulations have shown the ability of these structures to bring about an enhancement in the short circuit current density of TFSCs at specific wavelengths. We show that light absorption in the a-Si absorber layer is enhanced by a factor of 10.6 at the design wavelength of 690 nm due to the presence of the fishnet structure. Furthermore, the total absorption over all wavelengths was increased by a factor of 3.2. The short circuit current density of the TFSC was increased by 30% as a result of including the fishnet. This paper presents the fabrication process of the fishnet structure. A fishnet structure made of silver was fabricated using a combination of electron beam lithography and thermal evaporation. A complete TFSC was fabricated using PECVD to deposit a-Si on the fishnet structure. In effect, the fishnet was placed in the back spacer layer preventing shadowing effects. The final structure optically resembled a TFSC in all respects except that there were no doped layers. The fishnet structure is essentially a mesh of linewidth 100 nm, and a thickness of 20 nm.

Citation

Vinay Budhraja, Liming Ji, Sayan Seal, and Vasundara Venkataraman Varadan, "Fabrication of a Nanoscale Plasmonic Fishnet Structure for the Enhancement of Absorption in Thin Film Solar Cells," Proceedings of 2015 Photonics & Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Prague, July 6 - 9，Page(s)1489-1493

References

1. Mints, P. and J. Donnelly, "Photovoltaic manufacturer shipments, capacity and competitive analysis 2010/2011," Navigant Solar Services Program, Palo Alto, CA, 2011. Google Scholar

2. Goodrich, A., T. James, and M. Woodhouse, "Solar PV manufacturing cost analysis: U.S. competitiveness in a global industry," available on NREL website: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53938.pdf. Google Scholar

3. Zhu, J., C. M. Hsu, Z. Yu, S. Fan, and Y. Cui, "Nanodome solar cells with efficient light management and self-cleaning," Nano Lett., Vol. 10, 1979-1984, 2010.
doi:10.1021/nl9034237 Google Scholar

4. Nam, W. J., L. Ji, T. L. Benanti, V. V. Varadan, S. Wagner, Q. Wang, W. Nemeth, D. Neidich, and S. J. Fonash, "Incorporation of a light and carrier collection management nanoelement array into superstrate a-Si:H solar cells," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 99, No. 073113, 2011.
doi:10.1063/1.3628460 Google Scholar

5. Heine, C. and R. H. Morf, "Submicrometer gratings for solar energy applications," Applied Optics, Vol. 34, No. 14, 2476-2482, 1995.
doi:10.1364/ao.34.002476 Google Scholar

6. Ferry, V. E., M. A. Verschuuren, H. B. T. Li, E. Verhagen, R. J. Walters, and R. E. I. Schropp, Express, Vol. 18, A237-A245, 2010. Google Scholar

7. Ferry, V. E., L. A. Sweatlock, D. Pacifici, and H. A. Atwater, "Plasmonic nanostructure design for efficient light coupling into solar cells," Nano Lett., Vol. 8, No. 12, 4391-4397, 2008.
doi:10.1021/nl8022548 Google Scholar

8. Bhattacharya, J., N. Chakravarty, S. Pattnaik, W. Dennis Slafer, and R. Biswas, "A photonic-plasmonic structure for enhancing light absorption in thin filmsolar cells," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 99, 2011.
doi:10.1063/1.3641469 Google Scholar

9. Ji, L. and V. V. Varadan, "Fishnet metastructure for efficiency enhancement of a thin film solar cell," Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 110, 043114, 2011.
doi:10.1063/1.3626827 Google Scholar