The tradeoff between plasmonic enhancement and optical loss in silicon nanowire solar cells integrat

Optics Express 20(55) A777-A787

https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.20.00A777

Keya Zhou, Zhongyi Guo, Xiaopeng Li, Jin-Young Jung, Sang-Won Jee, Kwang-Tae Park, Han-Don Um, Ning Wang, Jung-Ho Lee

Abstract

We perform a systematic numerical study to characterize the tradeoff between the plasmonic enhancement and optical loss in periodically aligned, silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays integrated with a silver back reflector (Ag BR). Optimizing the embedded depth of the wire bottoms into a silver reflector achieved a highly efficient SiNW solar cell. Compared to the SiNW solar cell employing a flat back reflector, the embedded depth of ~20 nm resulted in the relative increase of ~5% in ultimate solar cell efficiency.