title: Unified Electromagnetic-Electronic Design of Light Trapping Silicon Solar Cells.
abstract: A three-dimensional unified electromagnetic-electronic model is developed in conjunction with a light trapping scheme in order to predict and maximize combined electron-photon harvesting in ultrathin crystalline silicon solar cells. The comparison between a bare and light trapping cell shows significant enhancement in photon absorption and electron collection. The model further demonstrates that in order to achieve high energy conversion efficiency, charge separation must be optimized through control of the doping profile and surface passivation. Despite having a larger number of surface defect states caused by the surface patterning in light trapping cells, we show that the higher charge carrier generation and collection in this design compensates the absorption and recombination losses and ultimately results in an increase in energy conversion efficiency. The fundamental physics behind this specific design approach is validated through its application to a 3 μm thick functional light trapping solar cell which shows 192% efficiency enhancement with respect to the bare cell of same thickness. Such a unified design approach will pave the path towards achieving the well-known Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit for c-Si in thin-film (<30 μm) geometries.
authors: Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, 4111 Libra Drive, Physical Sciences Bldg. 430, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.|NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway Suite 400, Orlando, Florida 32826, USA.
authors: Javaneh
authors: J
authors: Boroumand
authors: NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway Suite 400, Orlando, Florida 32826, USA.
authors: Sonali
authors: S
authors: Das
authors: NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway Suite 400, Orlando, Florida 32826, USA.|CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, 4304 Scorpius St., Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.
authors: Abraham
authors: A
authors: Vázquez-Guardado
authors: Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, 4111 Libra Drive, Physical Sciences Bldg. 430, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.|NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway Suite 400, Orlando, Florida 32826, USA.
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Franklin
authors: Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, 4111 Libra Drive, Physical Sciences Bldg. 430, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.|NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway Suite 400, Orlando, Florida 32826, USA.|CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, 4304 Scorpius St., Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.
authors: Debashis
authors: D
authors: Chanda