An efficient plasmonic photovoltaic structure using silicon strip-loaded geometry

Abstract

We show that a silicon thin-film photovoltaic structure with silicon strips on the top and grooves on the silver back contact layer can absorb incident solar energy over a broad spectral range. The silicon strips on the top scatter the incident light and significantly help couple to the photonic modes in the smaller wavelength range. The grooves on the silver back contact layer both scatter the incident light and help couple to the photonic modes and resonant surface plasmon polaritons. We find an increase of ∼46% in total integrated solar absorption in the proposed strip-loaded structure compared to that in a planar thin film structure of same dimensions. The proposed structure offers simpler fabrication compared to similar plasmonic-inspired designs.