Combined optical and electrical analysis of efficiency enhancement in solar cells with embedded dielectric nanoparticles

Author

Murthy, M.S. ; Bajaj, Mohit ; Sathaye, Ninad D. ; Murali, Kota V. R. M. ; Ganguly, Shaumik

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Indian Inst. of Technol., Bombay, Mumbai, India

fYear

2013

fDate

16-21 June 2013

Firstpage

1897

Lastpage

1901

Abstract

We study, by coupled electromagnetic and semiconductor device simulation, the effect of dielectric nanoparticles embedded in the depletion region of thin film solar cells. Absorbed photon densities, calculated using an electromagnetic solver, are mapped to the nodes of an electrical mesh on which three dimensional semiconductor device equations are solved. For the first time, we include here the effects of surface recombination and interface states at the Si/dielectric interface. We predict maximum increases of 9.3% and 9.9% in short circuit current density and efficiency respectively due to enhanced scattering from the dielectric nanoparticles.

Keywords

dielectric materials; elemental semiconductors; interface states; nanoparticles; semiconductor device models; silicon; solar cells; surface recombination; Si; Si-dielectric interface; absorbed photon densities; coupled electromagnetic simulation; depletion region; efficiency enhancement; electrical analysis; electrical mesh; electromagnetic solver; embedded dielectric nanoparticles; interface states; optical analysis; semiconductor device simulation; short circuit current density; surface recombination; thin film solar cells; three dimensional semiconductor device equations; Dielectrics; Nanoparticles; Optical scattering; Photovoltaic cells; Plasmons; Silicon; Spontaneous emission; coupled simulation; dielectric nanoparticle; thin film solar cells;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th

Conference_Location

Tampa, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2013.6744514

Filename

6744514