Plasmonic Light-Trapping Design for Thin Film a-Si Solar Cells

摘要

The effective absorption length for long-wavelength photons in a-Si:H thin film solar cells should be increased to improve device efficiency. In this work we show how Mie theory simulations allow for optimisation of empirical design parameters such as metal type and size. We show that a red-shift of the local surface plasmon resonance peak with increasing nanoparticle size could be beneficial for a-Si:H solar cells that require significant light scattering in the longer wavelengths of the solar spectrum. We evaluate the contribution of extinction, scattering and absorption over dipolar and higher order modes further facilitating design optimisation.