Ali Naqavi

Understanding of photocurrent enhancement in real thin film solar cells: towards optimal one-dimensional gratings

Despite the progress in the engineering of structures to enhance photocurrent in thin film solar cells, there are few comprehensive studies which provide general and intuitive insight into the problem of light trapping. Also, lack of theoretical propositions which are consistent with fabrication is an issue to be improved. We investigate a real thin film solar cell with almost conformal layers grown on a 1D grating metallic back-reflector both experimentally and theoretically. Photocurrent increase is observed as an outcome of guided mode excitation in both theory and experiment by obtaining the external quantum efficiency of the cell for different angles of incidence and in both polarization directions. Finally, the effect of geometrical parameters on the short circuit current density of the device is investigated by considering different substrate shapes that are compatible with solar cell fabrication. Based on our simulations, among the investigated shapes, triangular gratings with a very sharp slope in one side, so called sawtooth gratings, are the most promising 1D gratings for optimal light trapping.

Plasmonic silicon solar cells: impact of material quality and geometry

We study n-i-p amorphous silicon solar cells with light-scattering nanoparticles in the back reflector. In one configuration, the particles are fully embedded in the zinc oxide buffer layer; In a second configuration, the particles are placed between the buffer layer and the flat back electrode. We use stencil lithography to produce the same periodic arrangement of the particles and we use the same solar cell structure on top, thus establishing a fair comparison between a novel plasmonic concept and its more traditional counterpart. Both approaches show strong resonances around 700 nm in the external quantum efficiency the position and intensity of which vary strongly with the nanoparticle shape. Moreover, disagreement between simulations and our experimental results suggests that the dielectric data of bulk silver do not correctly represent the reality. A better fit is obtained by introducing a porous interfacial layer between the silver and zinc oxide. Without the interfacial layer, e.g. by improved processing of the nanoparticles, our simulations show that the nanoparticles concept could outperform traditional back reflectors.

Light trapping in solar cells at the extreme coupling limit

We calculate the maximal absorption enhancement obtainable by guided mode excitation in a weakly absorbing dielectric slab over wide wavelength ranges. The slab mimics thin film silicon solar cells in the low absorption regime. We consider simultaneously wavelength-scale periodicity of the texture, small thickness of the film, modal properties of the guided waves and their confinement to the film. Also we investigate the effect of the incident angle on the absorption enhancement. Our calculations provide tighter bounds for the absorption enhancement but still significant improvement is possible. Our explanation of the absorption enhancement can help better exploitation of the guided modes in thin film devices.

Diffraction and absorption enhancement from textured back reflectors of thin film solar cells

We study light scattering and absorption in thin film solar cells, using a model system of a sinusoidally textured silver reflector and dielectric layers of ZnO and amorphous silicon. Experimental results are compared to a theoretical model based on a Rayleigh expansion. Taking into account the explicit interface profile, the expansion converges fast and can be truncated typically after three or four orders. At the same time, the use of realistic permittivity data correctly reproduces the intensity of diffracted orders as well as the coupling to guided modes and surface plasmon polariton resonances at the silver surface. The coupling phenomena behind the light trapping process can therefore be assessed in a simple, yet accurate manner.

Vertically coupled plasmonic slot waveguide cavity for localized biosensing applications

We propose and study an integrated refractive index sensor which is based on a plasmonic slot waveguide cavity. In this device, a guided mode supported by a silicon photonic wire waveguide is vertically coupled to a metal-dielectric-metal cavity separated by a silicon oxide spacer. We perform an in-depth study that links the geometrical parameters of the sensor to the coupling mechanism and sensitivity of the plasmonic slot waveguide cavity. Simulation results promise that local changes of refractive index can be measured with a high sensitivity of around 600 nm/RIU in a femto-liter volume. These results are obtained with three-dimensional time and frequency domain simulations. Thanks to the high field enhancement in the slot of the plasmonic cavity, a high local sensitivity to changes of refractive index is obtained. Moreover, the high level of achieved decoupling between the bulk and the local sensitivity complies well with the requirements of biomolecular sensing.

Limit of light coupling strength in solar cells

We introduce a limit for the strength of coupling light into the modes of solar cells. This limit depends on both a cell’s thickness and its modal properties. For a cell with refractive index n and thickness d, we obtain a maximal coupling rate of

Experimental and theoretical study of the Gouy phase anomaly of light in the focus of microlenses

2c\sqrt{n^2-1}/d

Super-Lambertian photocurrent-generation in solar cells with periodically textured interfaces

, where c is speed of light. Our method can be used in the design of solar cells and in calculating their efficiency limits; besides, it can be applied to a broad variety of resonant phenomena and devices.

Enhanced light trapping in realistic thin film solar cells using one-dimensional gratings

We report on the Gouy phase anomaly of light in the focus of cylindrical and spherical microlenses. The prime subject of our study concerns a discussion of how the very small size of microlenses affects the phase properties of light in their foci. We put emphasis on determining the amount of the Gouy phase shift for line and point foci within the limited axial space. Contrary to macroscopic lenses, the optical properties of microlenses are strongly governed by the effect of diffraction when their size tends to be comparable to the operation wavelength. In our study, we clearly show how such diffraction features affect the axial phase shift. For instance, phase singularities, which occur at discrete points on the optical axis where the total intensity vanishes for spherical microlenses, cause an additional axial phase shift when compared to the cylindrical microlens where those axial phase singularities are absent. The rotational symmetry of the Fresnel zones is the origin of such a difference between point and line foci.

Geometrical Impact on Guided Mode Excitation in Solar Cells

We studied solar cells with periodic interface texture. For periods of 550 and 833 nm, we found that the measured photocurrent increases under oblique incidence and assumes a maximum between 20° and 30°. For the geometries used in our experiments, the initial increase occurred for conditions close to those of photonic band gaps. In addition to a forbidden band of energies where waveguide modes cannot propagate, we found that the coupling to the high-energy branches was suppressed under conditions of high symmetry such as sinusoidal interface geometry and perpendicular incidence.